Amant Josifi, former political advisor of former Minister Olta Xhacka was arrested in Dubai, after being wanted by Spanish police authorities suspected of being connected to three "call-center" companies that are suspected of defrauding and extorting thousands of people. Amant Josifi suspected of being connected with three call companies created by an international criminal organization known as the 'Milton Group', has been arrested in Dubai, the head of the Criminal Police Department at the State Police, Neritan Nallbati, confirmed to BIRN.

According to Europol, the Spanish and Albanian authorities, the "Milton Group" organization, where Josifi is accused of being a member, has defrauded thousands of people in Spain and other EU countries and has benefited through fraud tens of millions of euros.

In several operations carried out in October-November 2022, the Special Structure Against Corruption and Organized Crime, SPAK, in cooperation with the Spanish authorities and Europol, raided 6 call centers in Albania linked to the 'Milton Group' and arrested 4 suspects . Josif was not found at the time, but he was wanted by authorities as being linked to companies involved in the fraudulent scheme.

Before being declared wanted as a suspect for involvement in fraud, Josifi worked from December 2018 to May 2020 as a political advisor to the former Foreign Minister, Olta Xhaçka, while she headed the Ministry of Defense. He is also a former business partner of the brother of the Albanian Prime Minister, Olsi Rama.

The investigations that uncovered the group began in Spain in 2018. Through computer network tracing, Spanish investigators were able to geolocate the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses from which the 'universe-markets.com' platform operated in Albania, Ukraine and Serbia . They also discovered a dozen similar fraudulent platforms - created by an international criminal organization known as the 'Milton Group' - which used call centers and operators in Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, North Macedonia and Ukraine. According to Eurojust, the criminal organization has defrauded hundreds of thousands of victims since 2018, generating an income worth 50 million euros every quarter.

The investigative procedures carried out in Albania through the order letter sent by the Spanish authorities, have revealed 10 call centers connected to 24 fraudulent investment platforms. According to SPAK documents seen by BIRN, 33-year-old businessman Amant Josifi is behind the three main fraudulent companies.