Would-be armed robbers used an AK-47 to shoot at the Athens-Tirana overnight bus near the southern town of Tepelena, leaving one passenger dead and wounding another
TIRANA, Jan. 29 – A gunman Monday early morning fired on a bus on a mountainous stretch of Albanian highway in an apparent robbery attempt, killing one man and leaving another passenger with minor injuries. Health officials said a 25-year-old man died in a hospital hours after the attack near the town of Tepelena, 190 kilometers south of the capital Tirana. A 19-year-old woman was being treated for cuts from broken glass. A total of 22 people, all Albanian, were on the bus traveling from Athens, Greece.
Two days later, police said they arrested four people accused of attacking the bus in a robbery attempt. For men, aged 20-32 years old, have been charged with involvement in the crime.
They had shot at the bus under the effect of drugs, trying “to rob the bus passengers of the Athens-Tirana line,” said a statement issued Wednesday by police.
Some 5.6 grams of cannabis sativa were found at the two Mercedes cars confiscated by police. They are still checking the nearby river to find the weapon used.
Police said three of the men are believed to have taken part in a plan to rob the bus, hatched a night earlier at a bar in their village of Krahes, near the mining town of Memaliaj. The fourth man is charged with helping by supplying the weapon.
They are accused of murder and also illegal drug and weapon possession. The murder charge can sentence them with up to life imprisonment if proved, according to the Albanian penal code.
