Colombia, inget avtal med Farcgerillan

Till skillnad från opinionsundersökningar inför omröstningen – som pekade på en jordskredsseger för ja-sidan – blev omröstningen extremt jämn. "En komplett chock", säger Jorge A Restrepo vid forskningsinstitutet Cerac.

Qazim “Felix” Osmani (no known connection to Ismet Osmani) earned his nickname for his alleged legendary luck at gambling – allegedly he made his first million Deutsche Marks in casinos. The Kosovo-born Osmani cultivates a playboy image and is often seen dating Serbian pop singers.
He is also head of the Osmani family business, which is worth more than € 400,000,000 (US$ 440 million). Together with his brothers, he runs casinos, nightclubs and gambling houses across Europe. In Prague, he is co-owner of the Banco Casino, a network of 20 casinos located headquartered on Příkopy Street. Its annual turnover is about US$ 5 million.
According to a German BND investigation, Osmani and his brothers, who are his closest business partners, were investigated many times for violence, prostitution, fraud, money laundering, extortion and drug possession.

“The Osmani clan is an organized group active in the transfer of cocaine and is financing the purchase of weapons for the UĆK (a violent paramilitary group from Kosovo),” says a BND report obtained by OCCRP. Nevertheless, Felix - the lucky one - has never been found guilty. His brother Burim Osmani was found guilty of possessing forged documents and was sentenced to pay a fine of 20,000 Deutsche Marks (US$ 11,200), according to the BND report.
According to a Czech custom police officer, some of the Balkan criminals have gained the status of untouchable, so the chance they will be ever sentenced for anything related to drugs, is minimal.
“Those kind of drug lords are staying far from the real cocaine or heroin business. They are just sitting in some cozy place, remotely supervising the operations – through additional layers of managers and sub-managers. We can raid their network, but we always hit the lower levels of people working for them, those who are easily replaceable,” says a highly ranked police officer from Customs Administration who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“Many of those narco-traffickers chose Prague for its perfect location for logistical operations. They are staying or coming to Prague to make deals or to watch the trucks with their drug packages driving through Europe. If their official companies are dormant or not, it often does not matter.”