Rexhep Bekteshi, an investigator during communism, is the judge who confirmed and sealed the papers of the Prosecutor’s Office to clear the bananas of businessman Trifon Murataj. The boss of ‘Baba King’, Trifon Murataj, is believed to have paid more than 2 million euros to the Durrës court to clean his bananas of cocaine. The closure of the file was done in coordination between Trifon Murataj, the Durrës Prosecutor’s Office and judge Rexhep Bekteshi, avoiding even the appeal, since the boss of bananas with cocaine, through the right realtors, took the money to the right place.
It is signaled that Murataj has placed such a value on corrupting the prosecution and the court due to several episodes of cocaine trafficking in his banana containers, the facts and evidence that had to be overcome, the forced sewing of innocence, the noise that would make closing the file, the risk of engaging SPAK and even more the international reaction, since Murataj has been filed by the American DEA as the Albanian El Chapo.
Rexhep Bekteshi, 69 years old, who postponed his retirement through the manors at the Supreme Court, seems to have taken the last shot in his career as a judge, where retirement will probably look like a tip. The financial power of Tifron Murataj has produced wonders in the justice system of Durrës. Rexhep Bekteshi has decided to completely clear all charges against the company’s president Trifon Murataj, administrator Petrit Demishaj and the legal entity itself. The decision, which was announced on June 23, 2026 by judge Rexhep Bekteshi, has become final and can no longer be appealed.
In October 2022, the authorities discovered for the second time in the containers of this company, this time 33.5 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a container among the cargoes of bananas that arrived at the Port of Durrës.
However, the prosecution and the court process say that “Bana King” was not involved in smuggling. On the contrary, according to justice, the company was a victim of international criminal networks that deliberately use legitimate trade routes to move cocaine from Latin America to Europe.
File Authority: Rexhep Bekteshi, investigator of communism
In 2019, the Judicial Appointments Council (KED) banned the candidacy of the judge of Durres, Rexhep Bekteshi, for a vacant position in the Constitutional Court, after it turned out that he participated in a political process in 1990.
Judge Bekteshi was involved in the process of multiple verification of integrity by the Judicial Appointments Council, after the application he submitted to become a member of the Constitutional Court, following the call announced by the President of the Republic in February 2018.
The Dossier Authority has established that Bekteshi was an investigator of a defendant, against whom a judicial process was conducted for Agitation and Propaganda.
Judge Bekteshi has opposed the finding of the Dossier Authority. In the clarifications he gave to the Judicial Appointments Council, he denies having participated in political processes during the communist period.
“In the period 1980-1991, I was an investigator in the Durrës District Investigation. I investigated cases for criminal offenses in the sector Against Life and Health of the Person and Theft of Property. I was not an investigator for criminal offenses against the state and I did not participate in special processes,” says Judge Bekteshi in the letter addressed to the Judicial Appointments Council.
As for the fact evidenced by the Files Authority, Judge Bekteshi says: “I don’t remember this case specifically, but I think that this case was a case of theft, mixed with Agitation and Propaganda.”
Also filed by the American DEA, the exploits of Trifon Murataj
Also filed by the American DEA as an Albanian El Chapo, Trifon Murataj, wanted by Albanian justice on November 4, 2022, for systematic cocaine trafficking from Latin American countries, through the import of bananas. Murataj hid in Tirana. Then, according to some media reports, Murataj resolved the issues, removing the security measure through the Durrës Court.
Trifon Murataj claimed to be in the USA, but in fact the boss of Bana King was moving around Tirana with a hat on his head, where he is suspected of following the cocaine traffic.
When he was officially wanted, Trifon Murataj, through an American number he uses from Tirana, started writing and calling senior police officials in Tirana, accusing them of harming the banana business with delays at the port due to cocaine controls.
Some police leaders did not believe their eyes and ears. It is unusual for a person wanted for cocaine trafficking to hold the police accountable for obstructing the traffic line.
While a senior manager in Tirana had asked Trifon to present himself to the police for the claims he had, the trafficker threatened him, saying that there would be consequences. It is not known whether the cocaine boss has also written to the former Minister of the Interior about his concern regarding controls on cocaine containers.
Murataj is back at the helm of Bana King
In August 2023, the boss of Bana King, Trifon Murataj, also filed by the American DEA as an Albanian El Chapo, removed his deputy Petrit Demishaj, taking over the cocaine trafficking company with bananas from Latin American countries himself.
Murataj, who always claims that cocaine is secretly put in crates of bananas, was declared wanted only after the fourth time that cocaine was caught in his barges.
After being exposed in three episodes of cocaine trafficking, Trifon Murataj, in July 2022, i.e. 6 months before he was declared wanted, appointed Petrit Dermishajn as administrator of Bana King’s company Zico.
After the last episode of cocaine trafficking, the Albanian law enforcement bodies tried to interrogate Demishaj, who had left the country, apparently for fear of arrest.
He answered the phone, claiming he was in the US. Petrit Demishajt has claimed that he has been employed since 2010 by Trifon Murataj’s company Zico, as the head of logistics.
Murataj in the shadows and Dermishaj on stage followed the direction of the company, in collaboration with Desantila Murataj, Anastas Kriqi, Mikel Selami, Ylvi Hana, etc. But, in July 2023, Murataj returned as an administrator.
US DEA letter: Trifon Murataj of bananas and Ben Qimja of cocaine trafficking from Ecuador
The hackers who attacked the Albanian security systems published the official e-mails of the former General Director of the State Police, Gladis Nano.
Among these published e-mails is the correspondence with the Athens DEA, where the State Police was notified about an Albanian company that traffics cocaine from Ecuador.
It is about Trifon Murataj, the cocaine boss disguised as Bana King who advertises Ardit Gjebrea and Ben Qimja.
The leaders of the State Police have released the names of the cocaine buyers, as well as the owner of the Albanian company, headquartered in Durrës.
According to the hackers’ publication, the e-mail was forwarded to Gladis Nano by Tonin Vocaj on December 31, 2021, as well as the e-mails of the DEA agent in Greece for this traffic company.
Trifon Murataj brings the cocaine camouflaged with bananas, Ben Qimja was guarding it. The scandal consists in the fact that the police did not hit them.
Not only that, but the police ask that this information not be published. The discovery of e-mails has highlighted how drug lords govern the country./ Backstage
