Lulzim Caka is the name of the mysterious character arrested by Greek police as the leader of an Albanian criminal group after smuggling 84 kg of cocaine from Colombia through plastic rose stems. Caka, otherwise known as "the terrible one of Berat", was arrested together with his son, in a villa where 2 kg of cocaine, chemicals and drug packaging equipment, a pistol and a luxury car were discovered.
Lulzim Caka is a wanted person in Albania, after being illegally released from prison in 2019, where he was serving a 25-year sentence for several murders. Caka, who is also known in Greece by his middle name John Franco, has been living in the Hellenic state since leaving Albania. In 2022, Greece rejected Albania's request for Lulzim Caka's extradition to Albania.
Who is Lulzim Caka?
Lulzim Caka, one of the leaders of the criminal gangs that operated during the years 1995-2000 in the area of Berat, Fier and Lushnja, accused of several murders and sentenced to 25 years in prison, has addressed the Constitutional Court for "overturning decisions" on 19.12.2012, the Court of Appeal in Vlora on 28.04.2015 and the Criminal College of the High Court in 2017.
The Vlora Court of Appeal, on December 19, 2012, sentenced Caka to 25 years in prison for the criminal offenses of “intentional murder”, “murder in qualifying circumstances, attempted” and “unauthorized possession of combat weapons”. The incident for which Caka was convicted occurred in March 1998, where Caka resisted police forces.
He was arrested in Berat. Caka was captured wounded, while his accomplice, Xhevahir Çela, was killed. After this event, Lulzim Caka accused the state of ordering his elimination, while investigations revealed that Lulzim Caka, otherwise known as the "strong man" of Berat, had also shot his friend. Lulzim Caka will be remembered for his challenges to Albanian justice. He was arrested and then released for lack of evidence several times.
How did Lulzim Caka manage to gain freedom?
Lulzim Caka escaped prison thanks to the good protection he was offered, but also to the "ping-pong" that a series of courts played, among which the Supreme Court opened the way for his freedom to review the decision, then the Constitutional Court, and to "put its stamp" on it, the European Court of Human Rights.
Caka was brought to Albania under an extradition agreement with Italy in 2003, and after 16 years in prison, he was deemed to have served 25 years of his sentence. Lulzim Caka's release in July 2019 led to the dismissal of the director of the Kosovo prison in Lushnja and the institution's lawyer, and an investigation was launched into the judge who issued the decision to release Lul Caka. The latter was again declared wanted by the police on the grounds that his release was unfair and that he should be returned to prison to serve the years of his sentence.
