In the Xhafzotaj industrial zone, in Durrës, a brick wall separates the warehouses of two companies that are active in the processing, export, import and recycling of metal waste - "Rametal", owned by Elman Abule, and "Scholz Albania", with shareholder Gjovana Sokolaj.
The millimeter-scale geographical proximity between them seems to have marked the same fate. Elman Abule and Gjovana Sokolaj are suspected by the authorities of being involved in the trafficking of toxic and radioactive waste. There was also a financial report between the characters, for which investigators have raised suspicions that it may have been a cover for the implementation of a money laundering scheme.
So far, there is no official data confirming that Abule's "Rametal" and Gjovana Sokolaj's "Sokolaj" shpk have collaborated with each other in the suspected scenarios of illegal import and export of hazardous materials. However, the dubious history of these two companies has definitively exposed Albania as a country with high risk potential for smuggling prohibited substances.
Albanian ports have often been suspected of being lax in dealing with radioactive waste. Faced with this threat, local authorities have proven to be, at best, inefficient in preventing and cracking down on criminal activity.
Abule and the "trafficking" of dangerous substances
Elman Abule has been in the aluminum scrap import market for recycling purposes for at least 12 years. His main company, “Fidalba”, is a type of holding company, which owns at least four other commercial entities, all involved in metal processing. Among them is “Rametal” shpk.
In June 2024, the Tirana Court placed under seizure all the companies of Elman Abule, his wife, Marisa Nito, his close associate, Kristan Boçi, as well as several other individuals. The capital's prosecution had been investigating for months a large money laundering scheme between these commercial entities, where Elman Abule was at the center of the financial operations.
This was the first time Abule, with an atypical name for Albania, appeared in public. He had long kept a low public profile, although in the corridors of politics he was known as a "close friend" of Erion Veliaj, mayor of Tirana for 10 years and now under arrest since February 2025, on suspicion of corruption.
The seizure of the assets of Elman Abule and his friends was a major financial blow to the network of companies they built. The Tirana Prosecutor's Office immediately felt the pressure from these figures and refused to publish the details of its findings, which had convinced it to freeze assets worth tens of millions of euros.
The initial shock for Elman Abule quickly passed. He and his associates challenged the seizure at the Court of Appeal, where they found the understanding of prosecutor Arta Marku, who had held the position of Acting Prosecutor General for a 2-year period, between 2018-2019.
Prosecutor Marku told the Court of Appeal that her colleagues at the First Instance Prosecution Office in Tirana had not found sufficient evidence to place Abule's assets under seizure. The prosecutor's withdrawal prompted the Court of Appeal to release Elman Abule's assets on July 30, 2024.
Appeals Prosecutor, Arta Marku, supported Elman Abule's appeal for the seizure of assets
This "victory" gave Abule and others the opportunity to file a petition with the Supreme Court, in which they requested that the capital's Prosecutor's Office be forced to cease investigations against them, with the argument that "the criminal fact does not exist."
This attempt did not result in a positive outcome. The Criminal Panel of the Supreme Court decided to return the case for investigation to the Tirana Prosecutor's Office, which is still conducting its in-depth verifications for "money laundering".
The investigative file, obtained by "Boldnews.al", states that the investigation was initiated following suspicions that Elman Abule was involved in criminal activities in Belgium years ago.
But investigators' main suspicions about Abule place him in a hazardous waste smuggling scheme.
Tirana Prosecution suspects that Elman Abule is involved in smuggling dangerous goods
"According to information provided by confidential sources, it has emerged that citizen Elman Abule, in his capacity as administrator and partner of the companies "Rametal" shpk and "Fidalba" shpk, has been involved in illegal activities of importing dangerous goods, such as aluminum slag, prohibited by law for entry and customs clearance in the Republic of Albania, as these substances are classified as dangerous and contain radioactivity," the Tirana prosecutor's office file states.
Prosecutors suspect that Elman Abule "through accompanying documents and manipulated customs procedures, imports aluminum slag materials through the Durrës Sea Port, clearing them as aluminum scrap, a material considered permitted for import."
The Abule-Sokolaj “Agreement”
The same investigative material mentions a financial report between the company "Ferro Chrome Holding", controlled by Elman Abule, and "Scholz Albania" shpk, owned by Gjovana Sokolaj.
In 2015, the company "Alfamet", owned by "Ferro Chrome Holding" and with ultimate owner Elman Abulen, lends the amount of 150 thousand euros and 1 million lek to the company "Scholz Albania", owned by Gjovana Sokolaj.
Gjovana Sokolaj
The Tirana Prosecutor's Office has conducted verifications on this "loan agreement". From the data obtained, it emerged that before granting the loan to Gjovana Sokolaj, the company "Alfamet" had received a financial contribution worth 350 thousand euros from its partner, "Ferro Chrome Holding".
This amount of 350 thousand euros was declared as a contribution of one of the shareholders of "Ferro Chrome Holding", Saimir Dizdari, in the amount of 300 thousand euros, and the remaining 50 thousand euros constituted income from the company's profits.
The Tirana Prosecutor's Office, after a financial analysis, declares that "Citizen Saimir Dizdari did not have legal income to invest the amount of 300,000 euros in the company", raising suspicions that the entire "borrowing" story could be a money laundering scheme.
Excerpt from the investigative file of the Tirana Prosecution Office
Elman Abule, since February 2025, has been placed under the security measure of "house arrest" and has been charged with "money laundering", in another investigation, this time conducted by the Special Prosecution Office (SPAK).
Abule is accused by SPAK as part of a complex corruption and money laundering scheme, set up by his friend, Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj, and the latter's wife, Ajola Xoxa. Elman Abule's wife, Marisa Nito, as well as several other businessmen, have also been named as defendants in the same case.
Meanwhile, the Tirana Prosecution Office is still continuing investigations against Abule for "money laundering" as a result of smuggling dangerous goods.
Abula's "neighbor", entrepreneur Gjovana Sokolaj, is also in a similar investigation for "dangerous goods smuggling", this time at the Durrës Prosecutor's Office.
Sokolaj waste containers
In July 2024, a cargo of 102 containers departed the Port of Durres for Thailand. The exporting company, “Sokolaj” shpk of Gjovana Sokolaj, had declared that the cargo consisted of aluminum scrap, a material permitted for trade abroad within certain parameters.
But, in August of that year, while the cargo, estimated at around 800 tons of material, was lying unloaded in the ports of the Southeast Asian country, an international environmental organization, the "Basel Action Network", raised the alarm that the cargo sent from Albania was not aluminum waste, but was suspected of containing toxic dust emitted from the chimneys of metallurgical factories.
After this situation was created, the authorities in Taiwan did not accept the cargo from Albania and the 102 containers exported by "Sokolaj" shpk were returned to the Port of Durrës.
Immediately after the return of the containers, the Durrës Prosecution Office announced on August 22, 2024 the launch of investigations, focusing on suspicions of committing the criminal offenses of "Transportation of prohibited waste", "Abuse of duty" and "Smuggling of prohibited or restricted goods".
To investigate this case, an investigative group was established, consisting of a prosecutor, two Judicial Police officers, and all actions were directed by the temporarily appointed head of the Durrës Prosecutor's Office, Suela Beluli.
The investigation into this case had its own difficulties, as Albanian institutions are limited in their capacity to conduct the necessary expertise on the type of material found in the containers.
As of the publication of this article, when a little over a year has passed since the start of the investigation, the Durrës Prosecutor's Office has still not reached a final conclusion, despite the insistence of local and international environmental associations to uncover the truth of this story.
"Waste Trafficking" Doesn't Stop
The Prosecution's protracted investigation, although presented with fanfare, seems to have scared no one, at least those suspected of trafficking hazardous waste.
In February 2025, Ancona Customs in Italy, in collaboration with the Guardia di Finanzia, discovered a shipment of 58 tons of waste that “contained high levels of toxic substances such as zinc, lead and copper, harmful to the environment and potentially lethal to aquatic ecosystems.”
Ancona Customs announcement on the seizure of cargo originating from Albania
An official announcement from Ancona Customs stated that the cargo was imported from Albania by two Italian companies.
The investigations led to the seizure of the material and the denunciation of the legal representatives of the two companies involved. They are accused of “illegal waste trafficking”, “ideological lie committed by a private person in a public document” and “obstruction of control activities”.
In this case, the Durrës Prosecutor's Office or the Customs Directorate have not given any official announcement as to whether they have initiated verifications on the subject or subjects who loaded the suspicious items in Albania and destined for the Port of Ancona, in Italy.
Editorial
