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Raids roll up Albania mob

Last Updated: 7:14 AM, July 14, 2011

Posted: 1:06 AM, July 14, 2011

The feds and NYPD swooped in yesterday with simultaneous raids throughout the city -- and reaching into the suburbs, upstate and overseas -- to smash a drug-trafficking ring run here by the Albanian mob.

The massive, Drug Enforcement Administration-led raid locally nabbed 27 of 37 alleged members and associates of an Albanian mob made up of several family clans and involving "hundreds of associates and customers spanning three continents," officials said.

Among other illicit activities, Brooklyn federal prosecutors say the organization ran an international drug-trafficking ring that smuggled large quantities of hydroponically grown marijuana from Canada into the Big Apple.

Ecstasy was brought in from the Netherlands and Canada, while cocaine was transported from Latin America, officials said.

The organization also sent large quantities of cocaine from the United States to Albania and other parts of Europe by shipping it in hidden compartments in luxury cars.

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