TIRANA, March 23 – Lazarat has once again become the focus of police attention as a series of explosions caused property damage in the area.
The village was notorious as a lawless marijuana producing area before police took over last year and burned hundreds of tons of cannabis sativa and established a permanent strong presence.
After an incident between an armed group and police last week, three explosions have taken place in the space of a few days.
The first explosion damaged an electric pole near the village, the second damaged a home, and the third caused damage to a bar in the outskirts of Lazarat.
After the incident with the police, special forces conducted searches in the village, but without being able to capture the suspected perpetrators who opened fire on a police patrol.
The home belonging to the father of the main opposition Democratic Party leader in Gjirokastra, Roland Bejko, was one of the targets. It had been attacked other times as well. Bejko said that he did not exclude the possibility of trying to create instability ahead of the municipal elections in June.
Police later gave the names of five people it was seeking to arrest in connection with the explosion.
Albanian media reported that several members of the group appeared to be also tied with online propaganda relating to terrorism and religious extremism.
