Cops hunt three Brit men and one woman over death of Albanian businessman gunned down in café in horror ‘execution’
INTERNATIONAL police are hunting four Brits over the death of an Albanian businessman who was gunned down in his own cafe.
The group of three men and one woman are wanted by cops in the Eastern European state following the alleged assassination of mogul Ardian Nikulaj, Albanian police have confirmed.
A British-Albanian joint national is also being tracked by authorities over the extrajudicial killing as part of the major manhunt.
Local authorities are said to be coordinating with the UK’s National Crime Agency and Met Police following the assassination, which took unfolded on Wednesday, April 19.
The troupe of Brits are all believed to have fled to an unknown location in another country following the killing.
The entrepreneur, 51, was gunned down in Coral, his own coffee bar in Shëngjin – a coastal town popular with tourists on Albania’s west coast.
Nikulaj, who stood as a candidate for Albania’s Social Democratic Party in local council elections last year, was shot seven times after a masked gunman burst into the cafe and fired a pistol.
CCTV video from inside the cafe showed the masked man brandish the deadly weapon before pointing it at Nikulaj’s head.
Cops believe the killing squad sped away from the scene using motorbikes and a 4×4 – which was captured on a CCTV camera.
Police General Muhamet Rrumbullaku today told Albanian media that four British citizens were wanted after officers discovered a spate of evidence at the scene.
Local media SOT reported he said in a press conference: “After the event, a special investigation group was set up, with the aim of documenting and disclosing the authorship.
“Shell casings, firearms, telephone and some other biological evidence were found.”
Rrumbullaku added he would seek to charge the alleged perpetrators with “murder motivated by blood feud carried out in the form of a structured criminal group” and “unauthorized possession of explosive weapons and military ammunition”.
A Portuguese national was also named in connection with the killing and is also wanted by police.
But it is believed that the man may have crossed the nation’s border with North Macedonia in order to escape authorities.