TIRANA, Feb. 4 – The entire chain of command at the Pashaliman naval base has been discharged following a theft which occured due to administrative irresponsibility.
Authorities discharged 15 officers, starting from the base commander and his deputy, punishing them for the theft that took place between Jan. 9 and Jan. 10 within the base grounds, where several weapons and different quantities of cartridges and grenades were stolen.
The decision was made after the completion of an administrative investigation conducted by the General Army Staff, which then proposed Minister of Defense Olta Xhacka the measures.
Xhacka also signed the request to dismiss head of Navy Force, Major General Ylber Dogjani.
All of them are accused of shortcomings in basic security measures.
Two officers and guards responsible for the theft were arrested right after the incident under the charges of “violating watchdog rules in important facilities resulting in armed robbery.”
Official data suggests that on January 9, at midnight, two automatic weapons, a carbine, 40 grenades and about 5500 different types of cartridges, including high power rifle bullets, were stolen.
The investigation revealed the theft was carried out when the guard responsible had abandoned the post and was located in another environment while the practices of service control and guard shifts were also not respected.
The Pashaliman base is one of the most important military facilities that serves the coastal fleet, carrying out controls of the Albanian maritime border regime and operations in the framework of NATO forces in Albania.
