Afghan heroin passes through Albania as well, Western media says

TIRANA, Jan. 15 – Western media reports that heroin produced in Afghanistan is finding its way into Europe also through Albania. Cheap heroin is beginning to appear on Britain’s streets just a few months after a record crop of opium poppies was harvested under the noses of the UK’s beleaguered garrison in Afghanistan, according to the British paper The Herald. The illegal narcotics trade accounts for up to 40% of the Afghan gross national product. The Taliban does not grow it: the insurgents leave that to ordinary people scrabbling to make a living. The only real winners, say the UN, are about 30 powerfully connected drug lords in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Albania and Kosova.
According to the same paper, British cities such as London have reported major problems with organized crime from Albania, Russia and the Ukraine and in a recent report from Europol, the EU police agency, said 40,000 people were involved in organized crime across Europe. Eastern European criminals in particular have earned themselves a violent reputation. In Italy, Albanian gangs have even muscled the mafia out of many of its traditional haunts.