TIRANA, May 30 – Albanian and Greek police notified on Tuesday a joint anti-drug operation in the border area between the two states, in the Saranda district.
According to Albanian police, sharing information and coordinating actions of their forces led to crackdown on another ring trying to traffic drugs in the direction of Greece.
Official Albanian police sources also said that during a routine control at the green border, people were found on the Albanian side carrying suspicious bags that were filled with narcotics on the way to the border crossing points.
Following the actions of the Livadhja Albanian Border Police and the Greek Igoumenitsa Police, the area was monitored and two Greek residents, one living in Trikalla and the other in Athens, were arrested for attempting to transport 198 kg of narcotics inside a rented Mercedes.
In addition, Albanian police said it is still cooperating with the Greek side to identify and arrest the Albanians who sold the narcotics in the first place.
Greece continues to be, after Italy, a hot-spot for trafficking Albanian outdoor marijuana that has been cultivated over the past years.
Traffickers in both countries use courier networks to carry narcotics bags to the border. Following, third-party traffickers transport the narcotics through Greece, mainly to Athens or remote tourist island areas.
In context of these illegal activities, police in the Kakavi border point have set up an operational information centre that aims to make joint efforts in the fight against organized, cross-border crime more coordinated and effective.
