SHKODRA, Mar. 1 – Prosecutors in the northwestern district of Shkodra issued arrest warrants for 18 people suspected of illegally cultivating marijuana.
Following an undercover investigation that lasted several months, prosecutors in collaboration with State Police officers served warrants and arrested two village heads of the administrative unit of Pult in the mountain area of Dukagjin, a member of Special Police Forces and other people involved in the processing and preparation of narcotics.
The majority of suspects are residents in the local administrative unit of Pult. Prosecutors suspect that they have used their own land to illicitly grow about 100,000 cannabis plants.
The area of Dukagjin emerged as a new marijuana hotspot following the fall of Lazarat, previously known as the Mecca of Marijuana in Europe.
In the past three years, Albanian authorities have launched two massive operations against drug plantations. Cannabis cultivators in the area have repeatedly resisted police attempts to destroy their crops. They have used weapons and ammunitions against police officers and in one occasion they shot down a police helicopter two years ago.
