Police seize 3.7 tons of marijuana plants

TIRANA, Oct. 20 – Police in southern Albania seized 3.7 tons of marijuana plants bound for neighboring Greece.
The cannabis was seized in five separate operations Friday, according to police chief Ajet Ibro in Gjirokastra, a city 225 kilometers south of the capital, Tirana, and near the Greek border. The largest amount, 3,360 kilograms was seized in a fuel transport truck. Police say they have arrested seven people and are still searching for four others.
Albania, a NATO member since 2009 and also aiming for EU membership, is a producer of marijuana and a transit point for Asian-produced heroin. The country wants to crack down on drug trafficking.
U.S. Ambassador Alexander Arvizu on Saturday visited Gjirokastra to congratulate police.
It was not made clear whether that meant that the Albanian authorities had closely cooperated with the U.S. ones or that was simply because of the fact that a U.S. mission is assisting the Albanian police with training.
The success also came at a very good time for the country’s integration into the European Union. The EU’s Council of Ministers is to decide in early December whether to formally give the candidate status, which the European Commission suggested earlier this month. Fighting drug traffic remains a main topic which the Albanian authorities should focus in their daily work and that is made clear in all the annual progress reports of the recent ears which Brussels prepares.
At the same time, Belgian authorities brought back in Tirana more than 6 Albanians who had applied for political asylum there. That has turned into a big issue which has pushed many developed western European countries, like Belgium, Germany, France and any other to call on Brussels on lifting or limiting the visa-free regime that was given to the western Balkan countries in the last three years, including Albania.
Though Albania has not been turned into a big problem with asylum seekers like Serbia and Macedonia, it still is one of them with hundreds of asylum seekers. And Europe would hardly decide on individual countries on such an issue.
That is the reason why the Albanian authorities are trying to show to Europe they make their utmost to keep their border under control, among other things.