TIRANA, April 24- Chief Prosecutor Adriatik Llalla has recently expressed concern over the absence of prosecutors during the confiscation and destruction of narcotic plants and bags by the police.
“There is a total absence of prosecutors in the handling, administration and destruction of narcotics. In all the cases, all narcotics like any other evidence must be destroyed in the presence of a prosecutor,” Llalla said in a meeting with Minister of Justice Petrit Vasili.
The claim however was dismissed by the newly appointed minister of interior affairs, Fatmir Xhafa, who sent a letter to Llalla saying he was surprised by the declaration.
“If this claim is true, I am surprised that you did not discuss it in our joint meeting. There is no trace of these allegations in the previous official conversation between the two institutions,” Xhafaj’s letter read.
According to the interior minister, the two reports of the Prosecution General Office submitted to parliament in 2016 and in the beginning of 2017 do not mention or hint on this allegation.
In his letter, Xhafaj underlines that “violations alleged by the Chief Prosecutor go beyond administrative responsibility,” and he calls on Llalla to identify concrete violations and officials from the State Police who violated the law.
“I am willing to punish everyone who violated the law. I am sure that you and any other official at the Prosecutor General’s Office will do the same and will not allow such illegal procedures,” Xhafaj said.
Last week, Chief Prosecutor Llalla raised the alarm over the massive cultivation of marijuana in Albanian territory and accused law enforcement agencies of sluggish operations in identifying drug cultivators.
“There are massive areas of narcotic plantations. This is a concerning phenomenon. The fact that law enforcement agencies do little to discover cultivators is also concerning,” Llalla said.
He warned arrests of police officers who will illegally destroy evidence in drug trafficking and cultivation cases in the absence of a prosecutor.
