By Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al / As was common during the Cold War in all communist countries of Eastern Europe and beyond, the communist regime of Enver Hoxha and his successor, Ramiz Alia, during almost the entire period of their rule, had a special priority in the wiretapping of diplomatic headquarters accredited in Tirana, as well as the apartments where the foreign diplomatic corps was located. This is clearly evident from this archival document that we are publishing, which dates back to October 1982, where the State Security officer, Hasan Ulqinaku, through a letter with the initials “Secret”, informs the Minister of Internal Affairs, Hekuran Isai, regarding the problem of wiretapping with operational techniques, of the Egyptian embassy in Tirana, which was located in a villa on “Qemal Stafa” Street, (adjacent to the wall of the “Red School”), a building that is still there today.
The document in question with the letter from Hasan Ulqinaku, was sent to the Minister of Internal Affairs at that time, within the framework of the so-called investigation; “Kadri Hazbiu’s hostile group”, which had just been arrested (on October 10, 1982) and was being held under strict security measures in Tirana Prison (Ward 313), where for a long time in its cells, some of the former highest officials of the Ministry of Interior and at the same time close associates of Kadri Hazbiu over the years had been arrested and under investigation, such as; Feçor Shehu, Deputy Minister and Minister of Interior in the period 1979-1982, Mihallaq Ziçishti, former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Director of State Security, Llambi Peçini, former head of the Security and Physical Protection Branch of the senior leadership of the Albanian People’s Liberation Army, Elham Gjika, former Chief of Investigation at the Ministry of Interior, Kristofor Martiro, former chief investigator of the “Beqir Balluk Group”, Gani Kodra and Ali Çeno, former commanders of Mehmet Shehu’s escort group, etc.
Also in the cells of “Ward 313” (as the prison, also known as “Kaushi of Tirana”, was called), at that time, Fiqret Shehu, the wife of former Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu with her two sons, Skënder and Bashkimi, former Minister of Health, Llambi Ziçishti, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nesti Nase, etc. were also held in isolation and under investigation.
To investigate this “hostile group led by Kadri Hazbiu”, on the orders of the high leadership and personally of Enver Hoxha, a “Special Operational Group” was formed, headed by the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and at the same time Director of State Security, Zylyftar Ramizi, who, under the care and instructions of the Minister of Internal Affairs Hekuran Isai, (newly appointed to that ministerial post), had the following task: “Investigating and uncovering the hostile activity of the Kadri Hazbiu and Mehmet Shehu Group”.
In this context, the Special Operations Group was also sent a letter from the Security officer, Hasan Ulqinaku, regarding the problem of the wiretapping of the Egyptian embassy in Tirana, with the aim of blaming former Minister Kadri Hazbiu, who, according to them, had not allowed the wiretapping of that embassy, at a time when, according to what the Security officer, Dajlan Hajdari, had stated, the order had been given personally by the “Commander”, as Enver Hoxha was called at the time.
But even though in his handwritten note, at the top of the information report in question by Hasan Ulqinaku, the Minister of Interior Hekuran Isai tried to hide that fact, writing that; “The Commander has no knowledge”, what Dajlan Hajdari testified is much more credible, namely the fact that the Egyptian embassy in Tirana was wiretapped with operational techniques, on the orders of Enver Hoxha. But for more on this, we need to know the document in question, which was obtained and declassified from the Authority for Information on Documents of the former State Security, which is published by Memorie.al.
REPORT-INFORMATION OF THE STATE SECURITY OFFICER, HASAN ULCINAKU, SENT TO THE MINISTER OF INTERIOR HEKURAN ISAI, REGARDING THE OPERATIONAL TECHNIQUE INTERCEPTION OF THE EGYPTIAN EMBASSY IN TIRANA
“Secret”
One copy only
Tirana on 22.10.1982
INFORMATION
To me, Hasan Ulqinakut, last year while I was working in the Vth Branch, while discussing the reason for the removal of the operational technical surveillance of the French embassy, comrade Dajlan Hajdari also mentioned this problem:
“It is possible that the removal of the operational technical surveillance of the French embassy may be like the problem of removing or not removing the operational technical surveillance of the Egyptian embassy. These measures against the Egyptian embassy were taken at that time (according to Dajlan), because they were ordered by the Commander (Enver Hoxha, our note), in order to secure passage through the Suez Canal, because otherwise, if they found our operational equipment in their building, they would take measures against us, cutting off the passage of our ships from Suez”.
(In more detail, I think comrade Dajlan should be asked, by me or some other comrade).
Looking at this problem today, I think the question arises; Is the commander aware of this issue? If so, this problem falls away, if not, was it necessary for the enemy Kadri Hazbiu and the other enemies at that time to not seize the Egyptian embassy?
Operative Worker
Hasan Ulqinaku
HANDWRITTEN NOTE IN THE REPORT-INFORMATION OF SECURITY OFFICER HASAN ULCINAKU, BY THE MINISTER OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS, HEKURAN ISAI
Interesting!
Comrade Hasan
Talk to Dajlan. We have met several times about the problem of the French embassy, but I have never been told that this is related to the Egyptian embassy, Suez and that there is supposedly an order from the Commander.
One thing to be sure, that the Commander has no knowledge, so take this to the end with Dajlan./Memorie.al
Hekuran Isai
23.10.1982
