Albanian man who lived in Michigan sentenced to 25 years in $100M international cocaine trafficking case
An Albanian national has been sentenced to 25 years in prison on cocaine conspiracy-related charges, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan said.
Over $100 million worth of cocaine was seized in the investigation that looked into an international drug trafficking organization with ties to the United States, South America and Europe, prosecutors said.
Ylli Didani, 48, who had lived in Michigan at one time, was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Detroit, following up on a jury trial that convicted him of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to distribute cocaine on board a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
The agencies involved in the investigation included the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations and the Farmington Hills (Michigan) Police Department.
Didani and other co-conspirators planned and financed the distribution of cocaine from several locations, including Michigan, the district attorney said.
As a result of the investigation, the district attorney said, law enforcement officers seized over 4,300 kilograms of cocaine during 2019 and 2020 that were loaded on five different containerships bound for international ports.
"The interagency collaboration on this case is a prime example of how the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) is designed to combat transnational criminal organizations just like this one," District Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. said.
