Mount Dajti, standing like a silent guardian over Albania’s capital, hides within it one of the greatest financial enigmas of the last century.

For decades, in the old circles of Tirana, people have spoken in whispers about a secret operation that took place in the final days of November 1944, exactly at the moment when the old administration was leaving and the new structures were taking control of the country.

The key figure in this story is a high-ranking financial officer of that time who, according to declassified testimonies, was given an extremely delicate mission: the concealment of a significant shipment of metal crates containing gold coins and valuables of immeasurable worth, confiscated during the turbulent years.

Since the roads to the north were blocked, the order was for this treasure to “disappear” into the terrain so it would not fall into the hands of the forces advancing toward the center.

The operation in the fog

The behind-the-scenes accounts of this mission speak of a nighttime journey through the difficult trails of Dajti, in an area now known as “Shndreu’s Hollow” (Gropa e Shndreut).

According to the stories of the few surviving witnesses, the crates were buried at great depth inside a system of karst caves, whose entrances were mined to erase every trace of their existence.

The officer who led the operation is said to have kept a single map, encoded with coordinates linked to the position of the stars and the peaks of the surrounding mountains.

After 1945, the new intelligence services made countless attempts to locate this wealth. People who had knowledge of the event were interrogated for weeks in secret offices, but none managed to reveal the exact location, as Dajti’s terrain had changed due to erosion and deliberate reforestation.

Modern searches with laser equipment

Today, the mystery of Dajti’s gold has once again returned to the center of attention. It is reported that groups of foreign researchers, equipped with laser scanners and detectors capable of penetrating deep into the ground, have been seen moving through the remote areas of the mountain.

They believe that the royal treasury was never entirely taken to London, but that a considerable part of it still waits beneath the roots of the ancient oak trees.

Is this a treasure that could change the fate of its discoverer, or merely a legend created to keep alive the mystery of a mountain that has seen more history than we know?

One thing is certain: Mount Dajti continues to keep its secrets locked tightly beneath the rock.

Source

Article in the “N’Kohe +”.