The Peja Basic Prosecution has charged nine people suspected of operating an organised drug network between Kosovo and Albania that cultivated thousands of cannabis plants in the Peja region in 2024.
“We’ve been busted!”, a drug trafficking suspect wrote to a protected witness on September 27, 2024, asking to be picked up and sent towards the Albanian border with Kosovo, according to the Peja Basic Prosecution.
He was asking for help to escape from a drug plantation in the mountainous areas surrounding the Kosovo municipality of Peja, bordering Albania, ahead of a police raid.
A message, according to the prosecution, reads that “15 people have been burned [exposed], it’s a very big responsibility, and those guys are very dangerous.”
The Kosovo police raid of two cannabis plantations in the villages of Kliqinë and Sverkë, in the Peja municipality, which aired on Kallxo.com at the time, seized 2,850 narcotic plants and more than 1,035 kilograms of cannabis. One area of the plantation was used for cultivation and another for cutting and drying the cannabis.
Cannabis Plantation in Peja/Pec Mountain. Photo: BIRN
Phones were found at the scene as suspects escaped in a hurry. Collaborating with Albanian authorities, the Peja Basic Prosecution managed to analyse the seized electronic devices and establish the identities of the suspects. According to the indictment, the defendants are mainly from Elbasan and Fier in Albania, and Peja and Gjakova in Kosovo.
In a nearly 100-page indictment, seen by Kallxo.com, the Peja Basic Prosecution has accused three Kosovo citizens and six Albanian citizens of operating drug plantations in villages around the Kosovo western municipality of Peja, as part of a joint Kosovo-Albania drug-trafficking network.
The indictment, filed by the Peja Basic Prosecution on September 30, 2026, alleges that the group established one of the largest cannabis plantations found in the area, with the drugs intended for distribution in Albania, Greece, and elsewhere in Europe.
Anatomy of a cross-border group
Aerial View of Cannabis Plantation in Peja/Pec Mountain. Photo/BIRN
The Peja Basic Prosecution alleges that in May 2024, a man identified by the initials A.G., who has since died, travelled from Albania to Kosovo and met defendant Liridon Hajrizaj. The two allegedly agreed to establish a cannabis cultivation operation in the Peja region.
Hajrizaj was allegedly promised 15,000 euros and was given a phone for communication. The indictment says that A.G., together with another person who remains at large, and suspect Eldi Mykaj, brought narcotics and other material from Albania.
The prosecution claims that Hajrizaj and suspect Istref Bajrami travelled to the Vërmica Kosovo-Albania border in two vehicles, where they picked up the other suspects: Engjellush Ibrahimi, Klodian Qokli, Shkëlqim Xhija, Mirjon Qokli, and Erion Etemaj. The five men were then allegedly taken to the plantation, where they began cultivating cannabis.
The prosecution further states that Hajrizaj, Bajrami, and a ninth suspect, Enver Hasani, supplied food to the people staying at the plantation.
The indictment says that a witness was asked to provide access to his house and ranch and the suspects also looked for a truck or another large vehicle that could be used for transporting the drugs.
During the September 27, 2024 raid, some of the suspects fled the crime scene. The prosecution says that six of the suspects who fled—Mykaj, Ibrahimi, Qokli, Xhija, Mirjon Qokli, and Etemaj—were arrested by Albanian authorities and extradited to Kosovo.
The first police operation in 2024 resulted in the arrest of only one person from Albania, who later died while in custody, pending trial. According to the case file, authorities treated it as a suspicious death.
A second operation, conducted in October 2025, resulted in the arrests of Istref Bajrami, Liridon Hajrizaj, and Enver Hasani, in Peja and Gjakova.
The prosecution had initially identified 11 people as connected to the plantation. Nine have now been indicted, one died while in detention and another remains at large, according to the indictment. Bajrami is also charged with illegal possession of weapons.
This article was originally published in Albanian and adapted to English by Ardita Zeqiri.