Today: Jul 13, 2026

Albania’s Cocaine Economy Comes Home

8 mins read
1 month ago
Change font size:

Towers, resorts and cocaine money put Albania’s criminal economy in plain sight. A SPAK investigation into alleged drug-money laundering has linked the Zvërnec resort controversy, Tirana’s tower boom and Albania’s strategic investment model, deepening public anger after nearly two weeks of anti-government protests. Tirana Times, June 12, 2026 – A sweeping investigation by Albania’s Special Anti-Corruption Structure, SPAK, has opened a new and explosive front in the country’s political crisis, raising allegations that money from international cocaine trafficking has been laundered through luxury coastal developments, strategic investment schemes and some of the tallest construction projects in Tirana. The case comes…

Yearly subscription Membership Required

You must be a Yearly subscription member to access this content.

Join Now

Already a member? Log in here

Latest from Op-Ed

A salute to America

Change font size: - + Reset By Marco Rubio Two hundred and fifty years ago today, in a brick hall in Philadelphia, our forefathers declared their independence from the most powerful empire
6 days ago
9 mins read
Dr. Arben Ramkaj is Chairman at the Institute for Cultural and Religious Dialogues in Albania. He is also Director of the Middle East and Muslim World Department at the Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS).
Dr. Arben Ramkaj is Chairman at the Institute for Cultural and Religious Dialogues in Albania. He is also Director of the Middle East and Muslim World Department at the Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS).

From the Nile to the Balkans

Change font size: - + Reset By Dr. Arben Ramkaj Tirana Times, July 3, 2026 – If you sit by the banks of the Nile on a quiet afternoon and allow its
1 week ago
5 mins read

The Strategic Price of Non-Enlargement

Change font size: - + Reset By Albert Rakipi Tirana Times, June 30, 2026 – For more than two decades, the Western Balkans have lived inside the promise of European integration. In
2 weeks ago
6 mins read