Opposition planning drug-fighting legislative package

TIRANA, June 5 – Opposition Democratic Party and its allies came out this week with a call for a legal package to fight drug traffic in the country.
Democrats’ leader Lulzim Basha said they will prepare a package that will include monitoring of the nominations of all law-enforcement officers in drug fighting institutions and including a new two-year moratorium on all small boats and speedboats.
The opposition has argued the government of Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama is unable to cope with a significantly increased drug traffic.
That followed last week a clear accusation from the Socialist-led parliamentary commission led from lawmaker Ermonela Felaj accusing former Democrats’ cabinet led from then-prime Minister Sali Berisha of giving free reign to drug traffic in the northern Gjader airport. They offered evidence on how former allegedly secret intelligence officers supported the landing and loaded some packages to small planes. The parliamentary investigative committee concluded that small planes had transported drugs out of Albania before the change in government in September 2013.
It was first the opposition Democrats earlier this year accusing the Socialist-led government of letting small planes landing to get loaded with drugs in Gjader and lasso in few other spots elsewhere in the country.
Defense Minister Mimi Kodheli insists that the prosecutor’s office should deal with allegations related to previous drug trafficking in Gjader.
“The Armed Forces are not part of any absurd claim, malicious and provocative of some elements of the opposition. Rama’s government is focused on clearing the institutions that should be immune from corruption,” she said.