Albanian prosecutors have ordered the detention or house arrest of 33 people as part of an investigation into the alleged illegal export of hazardous waste linked to the Kurum group, in what authorities described as one of the country’s most serious environmental crime cases in recent years.

The investigation centres on 102 shipping containers holding about 210 tonnes of hazardous waste that were loaded at the port of Durres in early July 2024 and shipped abroad.

The Basel Action Network (BAN), a Seattle-based environmental watchdog, first flagged the shipment in August 2024 after a whistleblower reported that the containers might contain 2,100 tonnes of toxic steel furnace dust — waste known to be highly hazardous.

The containers were initially shipped from Albania’s Durres port but were turned away by Thailand, prompting their return via multiple ports, including Singapore, Turkey, and Italy, before being sent back to Albania.

The Durres Prosecution said in a statement on February 4 that 26 suspects had been placed in pretrial detention, while seven others were ordered to remain under house arrest. Those targeted include company executives, customs officers and environmental officials suspected of facilitating or failing to prevent the shipments.

Among those detained are Erdal Demir, administrator of Kurum International, and Yusuf Sezai Kurum, listed as the company’s proxy administrator. Prosecutors also named executives and shareholders of other firms allegedly involved in the trade, including individuals linked to the Albanian company Sokolaj and D.o.o Minerals.

The probe has widened to include public officials. Five staff members from the Durres Customs Branch were taken into custody, while former and current officials from the National Environment Agency were placed under arrest or house arrest. Former agency director Arta Dollani is among those detained, while the current director, Marjeta Perlala, was ordered to remain under house arrest.

Prosecutors said evidence suggested this was not an isolated case, noting that a previous shipment had been blocked by Chinese customs authorities.

The suspects are being investigated for a range of offences, including abuse of office, document forgery and illegal cross-border trafficking of dangerous waste, prosecutors said.

Environmental crime has become one of the fastest-growing illicit economies in the Western Balkans, fuelled by corruption, weak law enforcement and a lack of public awareness, according to a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) published in late 2025. All major types of environmental offences, including from illegal logging, wildlife trafficking and industrial pollution as well as hazardous-waste dumping, are found across the region.