Cocaine traffickers arrested

TIRANA, Dec. 5 – In an operation that was broadcast by the Top Channel private television station, whose team happened to be nearby, police arrested two persons on Tuesday afternoon, on the road between Lushnja and Fier, for suspected drug trafficking. Police found 100 grams of cocaine in their Mercedes. At 17.00, the police, who had been following the car for a time, stopped the Mercedes of Roland Kocani, 45, and Ilir Dedja, 43. The television cameras showed that it should have been an aggressive attack by police, as the car had fallen in a canal next to the road. The two suspects had their hands cuffed behind their backs and were laid on the ground near the vehicle, while special police forces with masked faces tried to send the cameraman away. A police officer in civilian clothes was seen talking on a mobile phone. It was also said that the two suspects had resisted, firing of pistols at the police before they were stopped. Police said the suspects had shot at the three police cars following the Mercedes in trying to avoid arrest. A police statement said that the two persons were under observation for some time under suspicion of drug trafficking.
Post-communist Albania has become a key country of origin for cannabis sativa, or marijuana, and a transit point for hard drugs like heroin and cocaine, though cocaine is very rare. Heroin, which comes from Asia and especially Afghanistan through Turkey and then into the Balkans, has turned into a common drug, often found during police operations. Fighting drug trafficking is a key priority for the government, which aims to integrate the country into international institutions.