Italian coast guard stop Albanian migrants’ speedboat

TIRANA, Oct. 12 – The Italian coast guard stopped a speedboat with 16 Albanian migrants on board near Brindisi.
Two alleged traffickers, arrested during the operation, were subsequently charged with facilitating illegal immigration.
Last year, Albania banned the use of small boats and speedboats as the government takes additional steps to stop the smuggling of people, drugs and weapons from its waters into the European Union.
The moratorium banned for the next three years the use of small boats, except those licensed for fishing or transport and those used by the police and military. Albania has become a popular transit point for smugglers taking people, drugs and weapons into the European Union, due to its lax border controls, weak judiciary and corrupt police force.
The international community has told Albania it must curb human trafficking if it wants to join the European Union and NATO.