Dashnor Kaloçi
The fourth part
Memorie.al publishes the unknown and sensational story of the so-called “Xhevdet Mustafa gang”, which included: Sabaudin Haznedari, Xhevdet Mustafa and Halit Bajrami, who at midnight on September 26, 1982, by means of a small motorboat that had set off from the Italian coast, landed on the coast of Divjaka, where after killing a police officer and a villager of the area, under the force of arms, held hostage another police officer, who would show them the way to advance inland Albanian, until they arrived in the small town of Rrogozhina, where they were discovered by the State Security people and after a gun attempt, its ‘capo’ Sabaudin Haznedari, was killed in a fire center, and also the same “Lucky” would also be Xhevdet Mustafa, who was killed after a few hours, in a house in the village of Zhamë in Lushnja, after he had previously killed the owner of the house and a police non-commissioned officer who was following him on a motorcycle. The rare testimony of Gafurr Haznedari from the city of Durrës, the brother of the ‘kapos’ of that gang, who tells for the first time the whole story of the so-called “Xhevdet Mustafa gang”, which according to the version of Enver Hoxha, was sent by UDB in collaboration with Leka Zogu, in order to assassinate the first secretary of the Central Committee of the ALP. ” and the well-known playwright, Sulejman Pitarka, would dedicate the drama “The Fisherman Family”, as well as all the State Security combinations, from their escape until the event of September 26, 1982, when Sabaudini and Xhevdet remained killed, in an effort with the forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, while Halit Bajrami, after being held for some time in the “Investigator” and the Hotel “Tirana”, was escorted by the Albanian Intelligence to New Zealand, where he lived peacefully even after years ’90s, refusing to trespass more in Albania!
Full 39 years ago, on the morning of Sunday, September 26, 1982, an unusual and very sensational event took place in a small town in Central Albania. He broke the silence and the stifling monotony that prevailed for years in the communist Albania of that time, causing great confusion and panic even in the ranks of the high hierarchy of the communist leadership led by Enver Hoxha. That same afternoon, the news of that event, which had spread with an unusual speed almost all over the country, was narrated in various forms. It was also announced by the Albanian Radio-Television, through an official announcement given through an official communiqué of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which was broadcast on the news program at 20.00. That official communiqué, among other things, stated that: ‘an armed gang financed and trained by the secret services of some neighboring countries, in cooperation with the enemies of the Albanian people, had landed several kilometers. in the depths of the Albanian territory on the coast of Divjaka, where it was completely destroyed by the forces of the Ministry of Interior ‘.
Nearly two months later, still without echoing the echo of that event, during a meeting that the leader of communist Albania, Enver Hoxha, held with the voters of his constituency in Tirana, among other things, he spoke about the “gang” that had already become known, all over Albania, as the “Xhevdet Mustafa Gang”. In this regard, he said: “The armed gang of the criminal Xhevdet Mustafa, which was prepared and financed by Leka Zogu in cooperation with the Yugoslav UDB and the foreign secret services of some neighboring countries, was annihilated and completely eliminated inside six hours from their landing, still without seeing the Albanian sun well “.
This sensational event, which at that time shook the whole of Albania and opened a great panic for several months in a row, putting on high alert all the units of the Armed Forces and volunteer detachments, was spoken and written only after the ’90s, with the collapse of the communist regime, but again, the whole event of September 26, 1982, where Sabaudin Haznedari and Xhevdet Mustafa were killed, as well as the so-called “Xhevdet Mustafa gang”, although four decades have passed since then, continues to remain shrouded in mystery, bearing upon itself a series of question marks!
In this context, in order to try to shed some light on that distant event, Memorie.al returns to a cycle of articles about the so-called “Xhevdet Mustafa gang”, publishing new facts and events previously unknown, which come through the interview with Gafurr Haznedari from the city of Durrës, who is the brother of Sabaudin Haznedari, the leader of the “commando group”, who, together with Xhevdet Mustafa and Halit Bajrami, landed on the coast of Divjaka in the distant midnight of 26- September 1982, where according to the official Tirana version articulated by Enver Hoxha himself in his speech before his constituency voters in Tirana, “he was sent by the UDB in collaboration with Leka Zogu, in order to kill the secretary the first of the Central Committee of the ALP ”.
After the interview with Mr. Gafurr Haznedari that will be published in six consecutive issues (starting today), Memorie.al will continue again with other articles, testimonies and interviews, from actors of that event, relatives of their families, as well as witnesses which, by chance, connected them, or led them to the place where 39 years ago the ‘armed commando group’, otherwise known as the “Xhevdet Mustafa gang” landed, an event which even today, after four decades, continues to remain covered with mystery.
Rare testimony of Gafurr Haznedari, brother of the “gang leader” Xhevdet Mustafa”
Followed by the last number
Mr. Gafur, after that event, when Sabaudini and Avdul Banushi planted bombs in the Albanian embassy in Rome, did your family in Durrës have any consequences from the state?
Our family at that time had no problems and we were not bullied at all. But this did not happen to Sabauddin’s other family, who were in Rome. A few months after that event, after the Security through its agents learned the truth that Sabaudini and Avdul Banushi were the perpetrators of that event, they started taking revenge on them. At the time, State Security men operating outside Albania went to Sabauddin’s house and poisoned his Italian wife. At that time, Sabauddin’s daughter was not at home and when he returned from the bazaar, he found his mother upside down, without any signs of life and on the table were two cups of coffee, which was later ascertained by the competent Italian authorities. , that deadly poison was thrown with quick action.
How did you learn about this event?
I was told by Sabauddin’s own daughter, after the 90s when I first went to Italy. My granddaughter and at the same time Sabauddin’s daughter, was more than convinced that her mother and at the same time my brother’s wife, Sabauddin, had been poisoned by the State Security people, who had found the case and entered her house, throwing them poison in coffee “.
Did you have any other news on Sabauddin’s whereabouts and activities at the time?
We knew that Sabaudini lived in Rome, where he had started a new family. While he was in Rome, he happened to be in a bar with four Durrës drivers in the Export Park and after getting to know them, he told the waiter to bring them to the table whatever they wanted, telling them that they had paid by Sabaudin Haznedari. These export drivers told this event in Durrës for some time, expressing with pride, how they had refused to rent Sabudin Haznedari in Rome. Also in the spring of 1982, I went for a consolation, to a friend of mine from Durrës, who had once worked together. At that time he had just returned from Italy, where he and his wife had worked as ciphers at the Albanian embassy in Rome. That day he told me that he would not go to Italy anymore, after he had been urgently fired from his job, where he had been at the embassy, and that “postal packages” had been returned to Albania.
Why did that happen to him, he told them?
This had come, because during a conversation in the premises of the embassy, he had stated that: he knew Sabaudin Haznedari and had friendship with his family in Durrës. As soon as he had finished speaking, his two work colleagues, who apparently belonged to the State Security, said to him: “You know Sabauddin Haznedari and you continue to work here at the embassy…” ?! The next day, he was urgently returned to Tirana, with his entire wife, although he had told his bosses that he was friends not with Sabaudini, but with his brothers in Durrës, who were people honored by the Party and with responsible work.
What about letters until you continued to communicate with Sabaudini at the time?
I kept in touch with Sabaudini until a few months before September 1982, when he landed in Divjaka with Halit Bajrami and Xhevdet Mustafa. By April of that year, I had written a letter to Sabauddin, telling him, among other things, that I had had my sick son. After that letter, he answered me immediately and told me to go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tirana, where I would make a request, so that the state would give us the opportunity to take my son for treatment in Italy, where he would Sabaudini himself took care.
Did you go to the Foreign Ministry and what was said to you there?
After the letter I received from Sabaudini, on July 27, 1982, I immediately went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and there I met a Director of the Directorate, with whom we had maintained a family friendship. I told him that I had a sick son and how he could help me, to get the documents, to take him to Italy for treatment, saying that: there I had my brother Sabaudin Haznedari. After listening to me, he said to me: “Gafur, I am going inside once and I am asking, because for these jobs, we get information from the Ministry of Interior. However, I have heard that your brother, Sabaudini, seems to me not to have good works “. After that, he entered the building of the Ministry and when he came out after a while, he barely gave me his fingertips, saying to me: “.
Who was he talking about?
He was talking about Sabauddin’s wife, with his son, Skënder, who lived with us. After the words of the one who told me in complete confidence, I had no more to wait for and returned to Durrës.
It is said that since the beginning of 1982, the people of the State Security were aware of the arrival of the gang in Albania. Is this true?
Yes, this is more than true. Since the beginning of 1982, sometime in January or a little earlier, or later, I am not able to specify this, the State Security distributed photos of Sabauddin, all their agents, to those ordinary people known to him all. I have learned this since then, after one of them told me in confidence. He even showed me the picture of my brother, as he was fully convinced that words could not come out of me.
At that time, only Sabauddin’s photos were distributed to the security agents, or to Xhevdet Mustafa?
I do not know what to tell you about this. Maybe they also distributed Xhevdet, but I only saw Sabauddin at that time.
How did you think at that time about the distribution of Sabauddin’s photos by the State Security, did it occur to you that he could come to Albania, at the head of that gang that came next, with Xhevdet Mustafa?
To be honest, at the time when I found out about the distribution of Sabaudini’s photos, I thought many things, but I did not even think about what would happen later, that is, for him to come to Albania. This came to my mind some time later, as large Special Forces of the Republic Guard landed on the coast of Durrës and began to provide services, along the entire length of the beach, from Currilat to Golem. It was done openly and demonstratively, because after five o’clock in the evening, they did not even allow amateur fishermen to fish with hooks. Likewise at that time around our house, the ordinary spies of the neighborhood and others of the city began to appear, who were watching us, doing regular service every 24 hours. After all these things that were happening at that time, I began to think that the Security should have some signal on the arrival of Sabauddin in Albania.
Did you have any other signal from the Security people that had to do with Sabauddin?
A few days before the “gang” came to Albania, our brother Emin (then working as Director of Tailoring), was called by the Chairman of the Internal Affairs Branch of Durrës, Kapllan Shehu and said: “Emin, you are good, honest people “Workers, and for this the party has praised you, entrusting you with responsible duties. Say a word to your brother Sabauddin, that he is creating obstacles for us.”
How did Emin respond?
After that, Emin replied somewhat revolted, saying: “But we have nothing to do with him”! Meanwhile the branch president continued: “As you have no connection, you occasionally write letters to him.” Emin again revolted and said to him: “Letters are written to another brother, who is crazy, (he was talking about me), grab him and put him inside.” So this fact and the ones I mentioned above, like the dismissal of the return to Albania of the two employees of our embassy in Rome, the distribution of photographs, etc., show best that our brother Sabaudini, not only was a sworn anti-communist, but that with his activity, he was causing them problems This no longer needs to be commented on, regarding the question you asked me at the beginning of the interview about Sabaudin’s escape with Halit Bajrami, who had been sent on a mission by the State Security.
How and where did you learn about the arrival of the gang on September 26, 1982?
That day, the day of the arrival of the “gang”, around lunch while I was staying quite calm at home as usual, my wife, who was looking out the window, that a neighbor of ours was having a wedding, told me that: a car came and took Emin with all of Skënder, Sabauddin’s son. After about 20 minutes, that car came again with the other brother Naim and also took the younger brother Qerim. After a while the car came back with Abdurrahimi and after staying for a while, he left again. When I saw all these movements that I carefully followed from the second floor window of my house, I aroused suspicions that something must have happened and I told my wife, that now it was my turn, to get out of that car of the Inner Branch, who came and took the other brethren. And so it really happened.
They took you too?!
After a few minutes the car came and picked me up and took me to the Inner Branch. While we were all isolated there, in our house where only women and children were left, numerous forces of the Police and State Security had gone, checking and raiding it in every corner. During that scrutiny, they had taken many documents and photographs of our families. Also during that search, they had found in the basement of my house, 11 dynamite incendiary capsules, which I had had there for 32 years, when we had resided in the “Fisherman’s Hut” which I used to kill fish.
How many were kept in the Branch and what was told to them there?
About ten o’clock in the evening, all the other brothers were released while I was being held, questioned by the investigator. They told me to tell you about the connections I had with the “gang” of my brother, Sabauddin. I told them to let me go home and bring you the letters I had written to Sabauddin since 1956. As I told them so, I did not know that they had taken those letters from me themselves. , which I wanted to bring to them.
How long did they hold you in the investigator and what happened next to the other brothers?
I was held for about two months in the interrogator, interrogated, and released on November 16 of that year, on the occasion of the amnesty granted by the People’s Assembly at the time. The next day, one day after the arrival of the “Xhevdet Muastafa gang”, on September 27, 1982, 23 people from the families of our entire fraternity, were taken and interned in different villages and regions of Albania, such as: Gallatë të Laçit i Kurbinit, Memaliaj, Lapardha e Beratit, Grabovë e Gramshit, Belsh i Elbasanit, etc.
What happened to this big house of yours?
While we were interned, our house was turned into the Laboratory and Accounting Office of the City Health Center. The revenge of the communist regime, regarding what Sabaudini did, not only ended with the deportation of our families and the confiscation of the house, but it also spread to our relatives. Let me mention all of them, because they suffered for years in exile, just because they were our cousins.
Of course, I can mention them all
As of September 27, the first cousins we had in Tirana were fired: Hysen Strazimiri, from Director in the Ministry of Economy, was hired as an accountant, Refi Strazimiri (Minarolli), from the staff of the National Library, was hired as a cleaner, Uran Strazimiri, from Director ‘Hozrashoti’ in Kinostudio, was hired as a worker, Zaba Strazimiri (Kusi), was left without a job for five years. Hasan Drini, was publicly unmasked, as a cousin of Sabaudin Haznedar. My three brothers-in-law were also fired. Sybi Bleta, a veteran of the Port, was taken to NISH-Goma, Arjan Bleta was removed from the Port and sent to Belsh as a worker, Elmaz Bleta was fired as the Party Secretary of the Enterprise./ Memorie.al
The next issue follows
