AVIATION

9 APRIL 2019: TIRANA, ALBANIA

An estimated €6-10 million was stolen in under five minutes at Rinas Airport. The stolen cash was being transported to Vienna and belonged to a commercial bank. A gang entered the airport through a secondary gate in a tax agency’s van, claiming to be tax inspectors. After entering the airfield, the gang intercepted an armoured vehicle from which cash was being loaded onto an Austrian Airlines plane bound for Vienna. They threatened the security personnel with weapons and made their escape. Police pursued the criminals and after an exchange of gunfire, one gang member, believed to be Admir Murataj (see photo taken during the heist), was killed. His body was thrown out of the vehicle. Subsequently six people aged 25 to 38 were arrested in connection with the heist. Murataj’s daughter has filed a lawsuit against the state police, claiming that her father did not shoot at the police and was therefore killed deliberately and not in self-defence.

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