Albanian media are providing the complete picture of the criminal record of the victim’s brother in the Agios Panteleimonas shooting. The murder on August 18th on Michail Voda street appears to be a calculated “hit” aimed at revenge. According to information sources, the victim has been identified as 47-year-old Artur Basimi, who was arrested in February 2022 as a member of a criminal organization that committed thefts on the country’s public transportation. However, what has triggered alarm in the neighboring country is that the victim is the brother of Marcel Basimi, a 38-year-old who “calls the shots” in the Albanian underworld, both in Albania and Greece.
According to media from the neighboring country, the victim’s brother had participated in a violent armed incident between gangs outside a bakery in Voula in January 2022. Albanian journalists emphasize the activities of the victim’s brother as they consider him the right hand of another notorious figure who has been charged with a series of murders and sentenced to life imprisonment for the moral authorship of the 2017 assassination of a police director in Vlora, Albania. This individual had placed a 20,000 euro death contract for the murder of the Albanian officer.
Photos from the Voula incident:
According to Albanian media, Marcel Basimi has been involved in:
*2007: Arrest at the Filiatra border for immigration law violations
*2009: Arrest for forming and participating in a criminal organization for thefts and robberies, drug possession and trafficking, immigration law violations
*2013: Arrest in Trikala for illegal presence in the country, deportation ordered
*2014: Armed robbery in Gjirokaster, Albania
*2019: Arrested twice in August in Agios Panteleimonas. First for forgery and illegal presence in the country, then days later for weapons law violations.
*2021: Investigation opened against him for weapons law violations when DIAS police officers spotted him disposing of a knife in a trash bin on Michail Voda street in Agios Panteleimonas.
*2022: Investigation opened against him for weapons law violations by Kolonou police station officers.
*2022: Charged with attempted murder, disobedience and assault against police officers.
*2022: Investigation opened against him for participation in criminal organization for thefts and robberies.
Photo of the murder victim in Agios Panteleimonas.
The background of those indirectly involved undoubtedly complicates the case, bringing serious criminal connections to the surface. The Hellenic Police are evaluating all information and investigations continue to locate the perpetrators of Monday’s murder. It’s clear that the case has become “loaded” with elements pointing to “mafia”-level score settling.
