Agreement pledges Albania, Italy to increased anti-crime efforts

TIRANA, June 19 – Albania and Italy signed an agreement Tuesday to allow their police forces to operate within the two countries. The move is seen as part of the ongoing fight against crime. The agreement was signed by Albanian Interior Minister Bujar Nishani and Italian Ambassador to Tirana Atilio Massimo Iannucci.
Joint actions outlined in the Tuesday agreement include accelerating the exchange of information between police, jointly work to discover and identify organized crime groups and assist investigations and share knowledge learned about fighting organized crime.
In another development, Albanian police chief Ahmet Prenci met with his Italian counterpart, Giovanni De Gennario, to discuss the fight against organized crime in both countries.
Italian police are the main partners working together with Albanian law enforcement authorities. Prenci said that because of the increase of cooperation between the two police agencies there are more suspects arrested, more drugs trafficking efforts prevented or stopped and also better results in the ongoing battle against auto theft.
Close cooperation between Albanian police and Interpol Roma have shown important advances in battling auto theft.
During the first five months of 2007, there have been 35 Albanian citizens extradited from Italy.