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 famous 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 point by point, full 42 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 killed three crew members led by “Captain Ramiun”, the captain of the ship “Dukati”, managed to escape from Albania together with eight of his friends who were hiding in the ship, anchoring him in the port of Brindisi, after had held hostage the seven members of the equator pazhit in the barns of the ship. This serious event and at the same time one of the most unusual stories that happened in the last three decades 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 about 30 persons of the management chain and senior officials were dismissed or given severe punishments and measures, 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 leaving at sea), the President of the Branch of Internal Affairs, the Director of the Seaport of Durrës, the First Secretary of the Party Committee of Durrës, Qirjako Mihali, 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.
Continued from the previous issue
The secret report of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Hekuran Isai, regarding the punishments and severe measures that were given for the event of the ship “Dukati”
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC SOCIALISTS OF ALBANIA S E C R E T
MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS Copy no. 3
NR.281 PROT
Tirana, on 13.1.1989
I N F O R M A T I O N
FOR THE ESCAPE OF 9 PEOPLE FROM DURRES DISTRICT
On January 6, 1989, 9 people escaped with the “Dukati” motorboat, including Enver Halit Meta, born and living in Durrës, aged 30, married with 2 children, the captain of the “Dukati” motorboat and Bardhyl Jakup Vogli, born and living in Durrës, 22 years old, unmarried, with 8 years of education, fishing worker.
Seven other persons with good moral-political attitude, with the exception of one,… .., who has been convicted 3 times for theft of civil property and his mother ……, after divorcing me’s father. fled in 1966 currently located in the US.
How did the escape take place?
At the time when there were no fishermen in the motorboat, Enver Meta and Bardhyl Vogli, organize the introduction and hiding of 7 enemy elements in it.
At 17.40 the motorboat left for the fishing region, keeping in touch with the dispatcher until 20.00.
After arriving in box 24, the fishermen dropped the anchor and stretched the power line, Enver Meta, organizes the service, leaving Bardhyl Vogli on guard, where he lets the others rest. At this time he removes the enemy elements from the place where he had hidden them, organizes the isolation of the fishermen, starts the engine of the motorboat and sets off on the path of betrayal.
Why did these enemies manage to escape?
- These enemy elements carried out the escape, without being discovered and punished, because the State Security bodies did not fall in their tracks since the stage of compaction and organization as a group of 9 people. The main security staff of the Durrës Internal Branch, and in particular those who have been in contact with si, have a heavy responsibility both for the incompetence of the intelligence force and for violating the norms related to the verification of the secret network. information.
The fact that… .. came from the ranks of the convicts, that even after his release he continued the hostile activity in the escape group, made it necessary to increase vigilance and implement with high discipline the norms of work with the secret information network.
Also… .. had a runaway mother, he was interested in her, he had also started correspondence. He had informed about these to the Security bodies in Durrës, but these bodies had not made the necessary verifications to see their accuracy, their authenticity. He had also informed…., Ostensibly to put the State Security organs to sleep. Even this data was not verified.
Comrade Agron Tafa, as the head of the body, has a special responsibility for this serious event as well as for the violation of the norms of operative activity; The 1st Directorate of State Security is also responsible, comrade Zylyftar Ramizi, who, although they have been to Durrës several times, have not been stopped for a concrete effective work in the big issues that concern the State Security in this delicate circle.
- The escape was made for violating all the norms and rules in the control of the border service, although a few days ago, attention was drawn and a series of orders were given on the occasion of the introduction of another worker on the merchant ship that reached Ravenna, Italy.
- The rules for the physical control of the motorboat were not applied. The Border Control, which according to the rules had to be inserted in all premises where border violators can be hidden, for negligence did not do, but only lined up the crew from a distance, even he did not get on the boat at all. For this he was arrested.
The guards of the border service at the place of stay of the fishing gear, did not detect the enemy elements that entered the motorboat without permission, although they did not have the motorboat further than 30 m.
The causes of these serious violations are based on liberalism in the implementation of norms and rules established for border protection in the water sector. They prove the lack of discipline in controlling our vessels, with the misconception that the crew is selected and the enemy element that can be hidden has nowhere to go, because the vehicle after fishing will return to the center.
As it turned out by border guards and fishermen, such violations have been committed other times. These violations of the rules of the border regime were studied, recognized and exploited by the enemy Enver Meta.
For violations of service rules, compromises and indiscipline of some soldiers in service, we have found and had information, for which during the last 3-4 years, we stopped, twice dismissing the command of the checkpoint in the port of Durres , we have removed and replaced compromised foreign soldiers with gifts, smuggling watches, even selling gold. For this purpose we have also duplicated the guards near foreign ships. But the serious event that took place shows that even these measures have not been effective.
The event also places a heavy responsibility on the command of the Durrës Border Battalion, for lack of control and failure to establish military discipline, strong and rigorous, for an environment with a sick situation.
In addition to the direct responsibility of the base cadres, for these shortcomings and weaknesses there is also a heavy responsibility of the Command of the Border Forces, comrade Ferit Zeneli, Enver Pataj and Ismail Skeja who, although they have often gone to Durrës many times, have not established rule, discipline requiring border service measures.
The event was analyzed in the security and border sector, concrete tasks were assigned to improve the situation. Concrete tasks were set for the Security sector to verify and detect the hand of foreign intelligence.
The issue was analyzed in the Collegium of the Ministry where with a critical and self-critical spirit I, as Minister of Internal Affairs, took my responsibility for this event.
The Collegium of the Ministry according to the degree of direct responsibility also took measures. Released (with different deadlines):
- Deputy Chairman of the Durrës Branch of Internal Affairs, who leads the Security sector and is subordinate to the port, Comrade Shemsi Spaho.
- The head of the Security sector for the city of Durrës, Comrade Arif Mezini.
- Operational Worker që., Comrade Hamdi Medani.
- Commander of the Durrës Border Battalion, Comrade Sabri Keçi
- The Commander of the Checkpoint at the Port of Durrës, Comrade Adrian Lala.
- Coming Officer at the Border Command in the Ministry, Comrade Kapllan Vani.
- The Commander of the Durrës Post Police Post, Comrade Bajram Idrizi.
- Two cadres related to the event were dismissed from their existing functions: the Chief of Staff of the Durrës Border Battalion, Sadik Ahmeti and the Chief of the Port Security section, Pëllumb Dedja.
- The following were given to the comrades in the state line “Warning warning for dismissal” comrades: Agron Tafa, Zylyftar Ramizi, Ferit Zeneli and Ismail Skeja as Deputy Commander of the Border Forces, which is directly subordinated to the border crossing checkpoints.
Some other issues that may also be related to the above problem.
- It is true that the tendency to escape has been and is sharp. Our bodies for this tendency perform a large volume of work; in their pursuit they spend considerable time, effort, means, and money. For this tendency from 1984 until now, nearly 2 thousand people have been followed, 398 people have been arrested, 1100 other people have been advised and unmasked by the Party organs, the government and the Branches of Internal Affairs. Despite these measures from 1984 to the first 6 months of 1988, 354 people were able to escape abroad. In addition, 495 people were apprehended trying to escape to the border areas.
- Since the liberation until the last year, 11,800 people have fled Albania as adults. Before 1955, the escapes had a class character, they were mainly enemies of the popular and declassed power, and after these years until now they are mainly not politically or ideologically hostile to the popular power, but in the vast majority they are degenerate people. and young people, influenced by bourgeois-revisionist propaganda for a depraved and liberal life, have been young with vices and acts of hooliganism; most of them have not been laid off and have a tendency to be lazy, have not approached and have not been organized with youth organizations.
- The latest event shows us that our ports located inside the cities are not treated as border lines from where the enemy element, especially the internal one, can carry out and carry out hostile activities, up to escape. Specifically, in the port of Durrës, 6 economic enterprises carry out their activity, with around 10,000 employees circulating at the entrances and exits. Today, the port directorates have the right to enter the port for the employees who work on land, while for those who work and board the boats, the Internal Affairs Branches have it. In addition to the liberalization in the implementation of entry-exit rules, the improper siege of port territories, poor lighting of this siege, the existence of several gates for entry-exit, etc. have a negative impact.
Such a situation is approximately in other ports as well. We think that in addition to the measures for the improvement of the sieges and the lighting of the ports by the economic enterprises and the authorities, strong measures should be taken for the entry-exit to the ports from our internal affairs bodies, as well as the directorates of the enterprises. The guards of the port post-blocks should be subordinated and this service should be performed by the border forces because today those for boarding and disembarking on ships belong to the border forces; while in the post-blocks for entry and exit, some belong to the police, some to the enterprises themselves.
- The analysis of the event on the ship “Dukati” highlights the necessity of strengthening the coordination between the vessels, the border and the army. There is room here to correct any shortcomings in the orders and instructions, but especially coordination is required to strictly implement the existing norms and regulations, to coordinate the work covering the border radars and army radars in the protection of the water surface, to strictly enforced the order that when ships set sail, every two hours be connected by radio to the center. There are flagrant violations in this regard. On the night of January 6, 1989 alone, 13 fishing vessels did not comply with this order. Also, the fishing companies do not give according to the rules before the border command and the army the plan of movement of the ships with the forms determined for this issue./Memorie.al
MINISTER OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS
HEKURAN ISAI
Continues tomorrow
