Albanian Drug Trafficking Investigation Overlaps with Probe into Planned Resort that Sparked ‘Flamingo Revolution’
Scoop
Protests continue in Albania against a luxury hotel development boosted by Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son in law. Prosecutors are investigating an individual who sold land for the proposed project.
Banner: Vlasov Sulaj/NurPhoto/NurPhoto via AFP
Reported by
Lindita Cela
SHTEG
Also published by our partners Follow The Money (Netherlands, in Dutch) and SHTEG (Albania, in Albanian)
June 18, 2026
Mass protests against a planned luxury resort in Albania are into their third week and questions remain about mystery investors, while the daughter and son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump have both spoken publicly in support of the project.
Now, court documents from a drug trafficking investigation reveal an explosive new element to the scandal that has shaken the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama.
The documents show that an individual who sold land for the resort development — planned in the protected Vjosa-Narta lagoon — is also targeted by prosecutors in the trafficking case.
Albania’s office for the Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organized Crime, known as SPAK, said in a June 13 statement that it was seeking the arrests of 20 people allegedly involved in an international drug trafficking ring. While the public statement did not name the suspects or mention the planned resort, separate court filings provide more information.
A June 10 order by the Special Court of First Instance for Corruption and Organized Crime — obtained by OCCRP’s Albanian member center, SHTEG — imposed a “preventative seizure” on a bank account holding more than 110 million euros ($127 million). According to the order, the funds originated from the sale of land “between parties Artur Shehu and Albanian Land Development sh.a.”
The order does not say who controls the account, but the court documents show that Shehu sold land earmarked for the resort project. Albanian Land Development is one of the companies involved in the resort development. The court does not implicate the company in any wrongdoing.
A separate court order identified Shehu as suspected of offences including laundering money, and participation in an organized crime group.
The document names Shehu and another person, stating that “there are sufficient indications of their involvement in narcotics trafficking.” It specifies that investigators suspect Shehu of laundering the proceeds of drug trafficking.
There is no evidence that Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner, or any investors in the resort project, had knowledge of SPAK’s investigation or allegations against Shehu.
Shehu did not respond to detailed questions sent to his known companies. Albanian Land Development did not respond to a request for comment regarding the SPAK asset seizures.
Land ‘Conflicts’
Shehu and Albanian Land Development are also mentioned in a separate SPAK probe, which focuses specifically on property secured for the the luxury resort proposed for the Vjosa-Narta Protected Landscape — a lagoon on the Zvërnec peninsula, near the southern city of Vlorë.
Credit: Vlasov Sulaj/NurPhoto/NurPhoto via AFP
Portonovo Beach and the surrounding landscape within the Vjosa-Narta lagoon area near Zvërnec, Albania, in June 2026.
A May 31 court decision authorized search warrants on premises related to individuals and companies that sold and facilitated the sale of land for the project. Prosecutors allege that much of land designated for the luxury resort was previously acquired using forged documents. The decision, obtained by reporters, states that Shehu sold property to Albanian Land Development.
Shehu told an Albanian TV program that he had sold the properties through a middleman, and did not know who the buyer was. He said his ownership of the land was “undisputed,” Reuters reported.
However, the May 31 court decision notes that there are “longstanding and ongoing conflicts over time among several individuals, residents of the area, who claim ownership” of land sold for the project.
The court decision authorized the search of the residence of Pullumb Petritaj, who prosecutors allege has acted as Shehu’s representative in land dealings.
“Pullumb Petritaj was convicted and has faced numerous judicial proceedings related to the falsification of documents for properties associated with citizen Artur Shehu,” the court document states.
Petritaj is reportedly appealing his convictions. He did not respond to requests for comment.
In a 2021 investigation, OCCRP documented how Shehu and his family members had acquired hundreds of hectares of land around the county of Vlorë — including in the same area where the resort is now planned — even though local residents claimed they were the true owners.
Credit: Artur Malinowski/Flickr
Butrint, Vlorë County, Albania.
Albanians have been caught up for decades in competing land claims — a legacy of the communists who nationalized property, and a subsequent spree of theft during attempts to return it to private ownership. A former director of the Real Estate Registration Office in Vlora told OCCRP in 2021 that separate court decisions have often granted the same land to different people.
That situation adds to an already bumpy road for the luxury development, which has been publicly championed by Rama, as well as Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
While media reports have suggested Kushner is financially involved in the resort project through his investment firm Affinity Partners, OCCRP has not found evidence of that. Affinity Partners did not respond to a request for comment.
Fast Tracked Resort
Nestled along the sun-drenched Adriatic coast of Vlorë county, the Vjosa-Narta lagoon is one of Albania’s most pristine remaining landscapes. Along with a centuries-old monastery in Zvërnec village, the area is a delicate ecosystem that serves as a sanctuary for sea turtles, the rare Dalmatian pelican, and flocks of flamingos.
The peace of the lagoon was abruptly punctured on the morning of January 21 when a convoy of SUVs rolled through the coastal villages, escorted by police.
Inside one of the luxury vehicles sat Ivanka Trump. Media outlets like the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network covered her visit, during which she reportedly lit candles at the Monastery of Saint Mary, photographed the wetlands, and dined twice with Rama.
In an interview later, Ivanka Trump gushed about “this beautiful peninsula with a lagoon on one side, the ocean on the other, beautiful white sand beaches.”
Credit: Screenshot/Instagram/ivankatrump
Ivanka Trump’s Instagram post from July 2025 from her trip to Albania.
Soon after her visit, the Albanian government approved a development permit for Zvërnec South Adriatic Development LLC, the company fronting the resort project.
Corporate registry filings reveal a complex ownership structure that obscured the people behind the company.
With an address in a high-rise in the capital of Tirana, Zvërnec South Adriatic Development listed a sole Albanian administrator when it was created by a Dutch private limited company called Universal Properties Projects B.V.
Universal Properties Projects was registered at Amsterdam’s World Trade Center, in the business district of the Dutch capital, just four days before Zvërnec South Adriatic Development was established. The founding capital for Universal Properties Projects was a single euro.
Corporate documents show that Universal Properties Projects was wholly owned by another Dutch company, Blue Industries Investment Holding B.V. The documents do not state the owners of Blue Industries Investment, but they show the company director was another firm called Dutch Trust Management B.V.
The owners of Dutch Trust Management are unclear, but the firm’s two directors are citizens of Russia and Bulgaria who are both partners at an Amsterdam-based financial advisory firm.
The corporate gymnastics culminated in another transaction on May 7.
According to a share purchase agreement, Universal Properties Projects sold 100 percent of its stake in Zvërnec South Adriatic Development to Sazan Development Holding LLC, an entity registered in Qatar.
The Qatari company’s ultimate beneficial owners were identified in a March 2026 Albanian registry declaration as Mohamad Moataz Mhd Ruslan Al Khayat, and Ramez Mhd Ruslan Al Khayyat. The brothers are Qatari businessmen who have been publicly linked to financing the Albanian resort development.
One of the directors of Sazan Development Holding, Mahmoud Mutlak Subhi Abdel Khaliq, was also listed as an administrator of Albania Land Development — the company that acquired land from Shehu, who is named in the narcotics trafficking probe.
A document from Albania’s official beneficial ownership registry shows that Albania Land Development is owned by Sazan Land Holding, and that the Khayyat brothers control that company.
Flamingos and Swimming Pools
Rama has fiercely defended the planned resort in the Albanian Parliament, arguing that the Qatari investors are from a globally-renowned company. He has also pointed out that their investment funds are subject to anti-money-laundering oversight by Albanian authorities and international partners.
Rama’s office did not respond to emailed questions, but he told Reuters recently that the project would go ahead, calling the estimated 4-billion-euro investment a “blessing for the country.”
Rama has also publicly dismissed environmental concerns, stating that the permits issued so far are limited to temporary access roads and research activities, while environmental studies are still underway.
However, what began as a localized outcry over a planned development in a protected coastal enclave has rapidly spread into a nationwide reckoning over corruption. The two SPAK investigations only add to the controversy.
Already, protesters have been marching with placards calling for Rama’s resignation. Others carry messages like: “The homeland is not for sale.” Another is even more blunt: “You are thieves.”
Dubbed the “Flamingo Revolution,” protestors have flooded the grand boulevards of Tirana, with many carrying pink likenesses of the iconic birds to symbolize the threat that the resort project may pose to the Vjosa-Narta lagoon.
Environmentalists point specifically to a controversial 2024 legislative change. That year, the Albanian Parliament amended the Law on Protected Areas, stripping away strict prohibitions on construction in ecologically sensitive zones, and paving the way for strategic investments.
Rama has argued that the lagoon’s protection status is designed for coexistence between nature and economic, social, and tourism activities, rather than a blanket ban on development.
Conservationists disagree.
“Permitting the construction of five-star resorts would transform the landscape into an urban area imposed upon the natural habitats of birds,” said Olsi Nika, executive director of Eco Albania.
“In other words, where flamingos have their nests today, tomorrow there will be the swimming pool of a villa,” he said.
Additional reporting by Dragana Peco.
Fact-checking was provided by the OCCRP Fact-Checking Desk.
June 18, 2026
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