Suspect linked to transnational call centre fraud allegedly involving Georgia’s former Defence Minister arrested in Dubai
Erlind Cekaj, an Albanian citizen and a member of an organised crime group, has been arrested in Dubai. Photo via zeri.ai
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Erlind Cekaj, an Albanian citizen and a member of an organised crime group, has been arrested in Dubai as part of an international investigation into a transnational crime of fraudulent call centre services that allegedly involved Georgia’s former Defence Minister David Kezerashvili, Georgian-based Imedi TV channel on Wednesday said.
The investigation was being conducted under the auspices of the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation and Albania's anti-corruption agency, according to the Albanian media outlet Shqiptarja.com.
Cekaj was wanted internationally for his alleged connection to the Milton Group, an organised crime network of scamming operations, operating globally, and run largely from call centres in the Georgian capital city of Tbilisi and Ukrainian capital of Kyiv fraudulent scheme.
The British public broadcaster BBC last year revealed its investigation into a fraudulent “call centre” scheme involving Kezerashvili, a wanted former official in the United National Movement Government, in a report that detailed a global network of a scam operation targeting customers.
Imedi TV reported that Cekaj was associated with Kezerashvili's cousin, Mikheil Biniashvili, who was also apprehended in connection with the call centre fraud case.
The investigation has revealed Cekaj was linked to the organised crime activities of businessman Amant Josifi, accused of extorting €6 million from German citizens. Furthermore, it has emerged that representatives of the organised crime scheme fraudulently received millions of euros from citizens of the European Union through the fake call centres.
The investigation, which was launched in 2021 in multiple countries, including Georgia, has identified over 17,000 individuals who were allegedly defrauded of their financial investments through the call centres.