SPAK issued 32 arrest warrants on Thursday following a massive raid across three major Albanian cities.

SPAK chief Arben Kraja confirmed that 18 suspects were arrested.

He said the criminal gangs mainly operated in Tirana, Durres, and Elbasan and were willing to pay large sums of money to have their opponents killed.

“From a total of 8 organized crime groups, 4 were operating in Elbasan, 1 in Durres, and 1 in Tirana. They are willing to commit criminal offenses and pay large sums to kill people who they refer to as their opponents”, said Kraja.

A police officer identified as Leonard Palushi was among the arrested.

The chief of police Gledis Nano said more arrests were expected to follow in the upcoming days.

Nano expressed his determination to clean up the institution from police officers collaborating with criminals and urged law enforcement agencies to probe into police officers involved in criminal activities.