TIRANA, March 29 – Albania is planning to step up its fight against marijuana cultivation and trafficking, according to a newly adopted three-year strategy against cannabis, which foresees using all government resources – including the military – to address the alarming trend of marijuana cultivation.
Deputy Prime Minister Niko Peleshi announced Wednesday that the strategy aims to boost joint institutional efforts to engage in a frontal fight against narcotics and organized crime.
“Starting from this year, state police, law enforcement agencies and all other institutions will engage in a broad and combined operation which will tackle drug cultivation and trafficking,” Peleshi said in a press conference. “The central and local task forces will take advantage of the capacities of state police, intelligence services, army, agriculture, environment, health sectors as well as our international partners.”
The inclusion of military personnel in the fight against narcotics was first suggested by the ousted minister of justice, Ylli Manjani. However at the time, the ruling majority stated that the army involvement was not necessary. The Socialist Movement for Integration MP took to social media to welcome the government’s strategy.
“I applaud Deputy Prime Minister Peleshi for accepting my suggestion for the involvement of the army in the fight against narcotics. He is the only one who listens,” Manjani said.
Since the fall of Lazarat, the notorious village, drug cultivation and trafficking in Albania has turned into a multi-billion-euro industry and increased at an unprecedented rate regardless the country’s efforts to uproot the phenomenon.
“The Lazarat model had an impact in strengthening criminal groups and boosting other cannabis cultivation areas in the country. The successful strike in Lazarat, forced criminal groups to focus on other regions in the country,“ Peleshi said explaining the reasons that lead to the massive spread of the “inherited phenomenon” since 2014.
The village of Lazarat was producing 900 tons of marijuana with a market value of €4.5 billion, nearly half of Albania’s gross domestic product.
The strategy according to Peleshi has received support from international partners and aims to vet all central and local government officials that are unable to efficiently administer the territories.
“2017 will mark the peak of the fight against cannabis,” Peleshi pledged.
In the past three years, Albania became the epicenter of the European drugs trade, especially marijuana. In 2014, surveillance flights by Italy’s Guardia di Finanza identified 815 plantations containing an estimated 165,000 cannabis plants while one year later, the planes identified 1,200 plantations with some 243,000 plants, covering over 15 percent of Albania’s territory.
According to the Albanian police, during the first ten months of 2015, authorities seized 6,87 tons of marijuana and they destroyed 689,815 roots of marijuana in an area of 44 hectares based on an identification carried out from air by Italian authorities. In 2016, Albanian police destroyed over 1.7 million cannabis plants but the fight is far from over.
Reports issued by international organizations including the U.S. State Departments have identified Albania remains a major source country for marijuana, as well as a transit route for shipment of cocaine and heroin destined for European markets. Furthermore, the small Balkan country is believed to be the biggest open-air grower of the crop in Europe.
Drug trafficking in Albania, according to experts, is inevitably tied to political power. The country’s Democratic Party has alleged that several members of the ruling Socialist Party are connected to drug trade. They have accused the former minister of interior affairs Saimir Tahiri of protecting and covering up drug kingpins. These are charges are denied by those accused.
Earlier in 2016, Greece accused Albania of covering up the former local government official turned drug baron, Klement Balili suspected of financing a marijuana export network from Albania to Western Europe. There were allegations that Balili had escaped arrest due to his political connections.
In the past year alone, strong concerns have risen over the potential use of millions of euros from drug trade to buy off judges, reporters, prosecutors and even elections.
The Democrats have been protesting for weeks, saying that elections are endangered by drug money. They have called for a caretaker government to guarantee free and fair elections.
