Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes some unknown archival documents extracted from the Central State Archive (fund of the former Central Committee of the ALP) and the Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which are made public for the first time, where there is a correspondence of the main officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the Italian Embassy in Tirana and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome, in connection with the event of January 6, 1989, when the ship “Dukati” while sailing in the Adriatic Sea, was hijacked by its captain, Enver Meta, who had hidden eight of his comrades on the ship’s premises and with them, held hostage the seven crew members, until they left for the port of Brindisi. The whole chronology of that serious event that had a great echo in the Italian press, which not only caused a strong diplomatic clash between official Tirana and Rome, but caused a great storm in the ranks of the Ministry of Interior in Tirana, Seaport, Durrës Party Committee, where about 30 senior officials of the management chain were dismissed or severely punished, by the non-commissioned officer of the Border Crossing Point, the Chairman of the Internal Affairs Branch, the Director of the Port, The First Secretary of the Durrës Party Committee, Qirjako Mihali, to the Director of State Security, Zylyftar Ramizi, as well as the Minister Hekuran Isai, who was severely reprimanded at the meeting of the Bureau that continued for several days under the leadership of Ramiz Alia, where there were strong clashes between its members, with mutual accusations of abuse and misuse, up to the family problems they had.
In the mid-60s, while the well-known writer and researcher, Nasho Jorgaqi, was writing the screenplay for the film “Silent Duel”, which was based on a real event that took place in the first years after the war in the port of Durres and territorial waters in the Adriatic Sea (an event which even today carries with it many mysteries and has not yet been solved), would never have occurred to him, that that event would be repeated, full 55 years later, in January 1989. But unlike the beginning of June 1947, when the sailor Spiro Kote (played in the film by the great Rikard Ljarja), managed to return the ship to the Port of Durres, after having previously killed three crew members led by “Captain Ramiu”, the captain of the ship “Dukati”, managed to escape from Albania together with eight of his friends who were hidden in the ship, anchoring him in the port of Brindisi, after holding him hostage seven crew members in the hamburger ship’s fields. This serious event and at the same time one of the most unusual stories that happened three decades ago that had a great echo in the Italian press, not only caused a real storm in the ranks of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of that time, where dismissed or given severe punishments and punitive measures about 30 persons of the management chain and senior officials, starting from the non-commissioned officer of the Checkpoint in the Port of Durrës, (who had not properly performed the control of the ship before going to sea ), The Chairman of the Branch of Internal Affairs, the Director of the Seaport of Durrës, the First Secretary of the Party Committee of Durrës, Qirjako Mihali, and up to the Director of State Security, Zylyftar Ramizi, as well as the Minister of Internal Affairs, Hekuran Isai, who was severely reprimanded at the meeting of the Politburo that took place for several days under the leadership of Ramiz Alia. Where as rarely ever, all members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the ALP, became involved in fierce debates with each other, with mutual accusations of abuse, misuse and even their family problems. Regarding the above, that is, since the unusual event of January 6, 1989, the negotiations of the Albanian government with the Italian one for the return to Albania of the “terrorist group” of eight people headed by, Enver Meta, who were implicated in drug smuggling ”etc., the investigative process against them in Durrës, as well as the long and very irritated meetings of the Politburo, Memorie.al has two voluminous files which have been with the logo“ Top secret ”and have been declassified for some time, making them public for the first time.
Followed by the last number
Report of Qirjako Mihali, the first secretary of the Durrës Party Committee, for the Central Committee of the ALP, on the escape of “Dukati”
ALBANIAN LABOR PARTY
S E C R E T
DISTRICT PARTY COMMITTEE
D U R R Ë S
No.37 Prot.
Durrës, on 12.01.1989
R E L A T I O N
ON THE EXTRAORDINARY EVENT OF THE MOTOR FISHERIES “DUKATI”
OF DURRES FISHING ENTERPRISE
On January 6, 1989, at around 4:40 pm, the fishing boat “Dukati” of the Durrës Fisheries Enterprise, with its crew of 9 people, went hunting.
After the motorbike was prepared, it was provided with the necessary documents, according to the rules: a preliminary control was performed by the fishing fleet dispatcher and before departure, the border service control was performed. From the subsequent data it results that: After leaving the port of Durrës, at 17.00 on 6.01.1989 he gave this radiogram: “We left the port for stavridh” (square) 24. Then, until 07.40 dated 7.1.1989, the motorbike “Dukati” was not connected by radio with the dispatching dispatcher. According to the rules it had to be connected every 2 hours.
At 07:40 on 7.1.1989 the fishing brigadier of the ship appeared on the radio and informed that: “At 22.00 on 6.1.1989 we threw the power line to hunt. “The number one copyrol with some other clowns, took the ship and sailed at a course of 240 degrees and brought the ship to the ground in Brindisi.”
After this announcement, we went to the fishing company, saw the actions for the launch of the boat, met with the dispatchers, fishermen and managers of the company to get acquainted in advance with all the work done for the launch of the boat. We also specified that in the motorhome “Dukati”, in addition to the crew, there were 7 other people, of whom a fisherman in this enterprise of the crew of another motorhome.
On 10.1.1989, at 01.30, with the arrival of the motorboat “Dukati” in the port of Durres, we met once again with 7 fishermen, members of the crew, who after facing many pressures returned home. During the conversation, they explained that: on 6.1.1989 at 16.30, the crew of the motorboat was gathered to go hunting. After boarding the motorboat, the non-commissioned officer of the border crossing point service, Vrenoz Doganaj, was notified to carry out the control according to the rules. The former captain of the fishing boat, the enemy Enver Meta, had turned him right off the bridge in order to make it difficult to enter to control. The non-commissioned officer of the border service did not go for control as defined in the regulations, but signed the documents for departure from the bridge. After 22.00 on 6.1.1989, the 9 enemies, who were armed with knives and other tools, quickly isolated the 5 fishermen who were on vacation, used force against Agron Guzë, who was locked in the barn. of the coffers and to Fisnik Doçi who was tied up in the captain’s room. At this time, the enemy Enver Meta turned off the auxiliary engine, started the large engine and, changing course, moved forward. At 05.30 on 7.1.1989 they arrived in Brindisi, Italy, bringing the ship to land. During this time, the 7 fishermen remained isolated, tried to free themselves, but could not, as they were kept under the constant threat of the force of these enemies.
At the moment when the enemies were getting ready to leave the ship, they used sharp hostile expressions and threats against the fishermen and our country, such as: boys, look through Italy to Brindisi, see Europe with your eyes ”.
“Here in Brindisi we will watch TV without an antenna, not like in Albania when we climbed over the apartments and moved the antennas left and right.” After they left, the fisherman Fisnik Doçi, who was tied to the captain’s cabin, was released and with a lever opened the doors of the rooms where his friends were locked. The seven tried to pull the ship out of the cektina to return home without being brought under the control of the Italian authorities. They did not succeed in this because in the meantime the day dawned and the port captaincy came and took them out of the cektina. The enemy Enver Meta who was fluent in Italian, accompanied by the militia came to the boat, where as far as our fishermen understood the language, gave explanations on the event and showed the places where he had hidden the enemies and had closed the ship’s crew. As our fishermen explained, the enemies had put them in the barn.
From the analysis made by the District Party Bureau of this event on 12.01.1989, it appears that: The enemy Enver Meta, secretly, taking advantage of the repeated lack of border control, hid seven outsiders on the ship , with whom he has already prepared the escape plan. He and others took advantage of liberalism in control, they had noticed this liberalism in time. As the fishermen explain, the non-commissioned officer, instead of checking the boat from corner to corner, let it go. There was no continuous physical check on the ship, but only a check of the crew and documentation. On the contrary, when ships arrive from abroad, very detailed checks are made on them and their crew. These shortcomings were noticed and acknowledged in the district Party bureau by the director and secretary of the bureau of the Fisheries Enterprise Party, but they were not forcibly raised in their dealings with the border authorities, nor did they inform the Committee of District party.
The analysis of the event, which was followed by us, was conducted in the bureau and in the basic organization of the Party and in the technical council of the fishing enterprise, in the basic organization of the Border Crossing Point in the Port of Durrës, in Internal Affairs Branch and at the headquarters of the Navy.
The analysis was also done in those enterprises where other fugitives who are not effective in fishing worked. These analyzes were characterized by a high sense of responsibility, with a critical spirit towards the violation of rules and regulations, work discipline, towards the manifestations of liberalism, indifference and environment in the performance of assigned tasks and measures were set to rectify the situation.
The organization – the base of the Party of the maritime sector in the Fisheries Enterprise, deeply analyzing this ugly event, revealed that in the performance of duty have been proven many flaws and weaknesses, starting from the guard to the main executives of the enterprise. The manifestations of indifference during the entry and exit of people in enterprises and fishing gear, breaches of discipline in the interconnection between hunting and dispatching vehicles, in liberal omissions and attitudes during vehicle control, especially before leaving for hunting, by the mayor were discussed. of the branch of the fishing fleet and the managers of the enterprise etc.
For these shortcomings and weaknesses, the basic organization of the Party stopped concretely and punished with remarks with a note on the registration card, the director of the company Vath Çollaku, defined concrete tasks to correct the situation, to strengthen the control and to increase the demand of the account. for strict enforcement of the rules.
The body of the enterprise approved the proposals of the technical council and for lack of responsibility in performing the duties the chief engineer of the enterprise, the head of the fleet branch, two dispatchers and the head of administration, dismissed and requested an investigation process for the dispatcher who was on duty during the event etc.
Such analyzes were also made in the body of the branch of internal affairs. The Party-based organization of the border checkpoint at the Seaport, for significant weaknesses in the work, expelled from the Party the non-commissioned officer who had performed the control of the motorboat before going to sea and proposed to be prosecuted. The investigation process against him has started.
The District Party Committee, taking cue also from previous events that have occurred in the merchant fleet, in the seaport of N.N. The Port has intensified its work with Party-based organizations and their levers in all the enterprises involved in the Port Aquarium, to create a more complete concept among communists and other border workers. To this end, we have from time to time organized meetings and conversations with employees, communists and cadres to strengthen vigilance both on the water’s edge and in depth. Pursuant to the tasks set by the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the ALP, Parties have become active both at the district level and in enterprises where there have been more concerns, such as the Seaport, Kryevidh, Sukth, etc.
We have followed these problems with concern in the headquarters of the water rim area to solve some problems and concerns that they currently had. For this purpose, a program of measures has been drafted and its implementation has been requested.
Based on a study conducted by the Department of Internal Affairs, problematic workers of waterfront enterprises were identified and left hand in hand during the second half of 1988, 13 of them were commissioned by enterprises that gradually dismiss others and make constant care of recognizing new workers.
We have paid special attention to strengthening the organization of the Fisheries Enterprise Party through the continuous increase of its effectiveness. From 1986 until today, its effectiveness has gradually increased from 37 to 55. The addition of 18 communists has come from 10 new admissions and 9 communists sent by other enterprises. At the same time, 8 candidates were sent there to complete the internship of the Party candidate only for 1988. Nevertheless, we are reviewing once again the improvement of the communists’ dispersal, especially in high-tonnage and clamshell motorcycles.
In addition to the problems for strengthening the internal life of the Party in this enterprise, a complex of technical-organizational measures has been drafted and is being implemented, which provides for improving the siege of the enterprise, more precise definition of responsibilities, improving the internal regulation of the enterprise, etc.
In addition to the responsibility of the Party organization and the directorate of the fishing enterprise, the bureau of the district Party Committee, concluded that the responsibility also lies with the Party-based organization of the security sector of the Internal Affairs Branch, which with a more should anticipate the revelation of this hostile organized activity and, recognize and warn of the manifestations of liberalism in the implementation of the rules for the control of fishing gear.
The Executive Committee of the People’s Council of the district has responsibilities as it has not exercised enough control to strengthen discipline, to enforce rules and regime in economic enterprises, especially those on the waterfront.
There have been shortcomings in the work of the District Party Committee in the most organized struggle against foreign propaganda, in the sense of the wider development of the manifestations of class warfare, in the taking of concrete actions in the struggle against indifference, as well as in the more responsibility from the Party-based organizations of these problems, fighting bias, to deal only with economic problems. The bureau of the district Party Committee also drew attention to the fact that the party-based organizations and those of the masses, the directorates of enterprises, do not adequately follow the lives of their employees outside normal working hours. In this context, drawing lessons from this serious event, we will bring to an end some measures that have been defined in advance, such as the completion of the perimeter wall in the entire aquarium of the Seaport, after which the opportunities will be created to all waterfront enterprises, to pass to police custody. Measures are also being taken to establish strict rules for the entry into these enterprises, both of their employees and of others who go there for work needs, in addition to the work that needs to be done in the eastern part of the Seaport and all the enterprises located in this aquarium, must be guarded by police forces, as well as its northern part.
It is also necessary to consider the complete aquarium border of the port, as so far only the area of the Seaport has been considered as such.
We are also working to create a fairer concept to consider borders not only foreign vessels but also our own vessels, including fishing vessels. The realization of this is considered with the fulfillment of the requirements for the increase of the effective of the border post.
The Bureau of the District Party Committee after this analysis deepened the responsibilities and measures, dismissing from duty the secretary of the bureau of the Party of the Fisheries Enterprise and its director, with serious remarks marked on the registration card of the secretariat of the Party Committee and a severe reprimand with warning for dismissal of the director of the Seaport “Enver Hoxha”.
Approved the measures taken so far in the body of the branch of internal affairs and to deepen the position for the other sectors of the Branch of Internal Affairs in the Party Committee. Charged the Executive Committee of K.P. of the district, to stand against those who have broken the rules, who do not control the implementation of decisions, especially for setting rules at the entrance and exit of economic enterprises./Memorie.al
