Fighting drug trafficking remains top police priority

TIRANA, Dec. 27 – Fighting drug trafficking has been a main point of focus for the Albanian police and has been successful during 2011.
Another illustration of this came Monday when police in Albania confiscated a total of one ton of cannabis in separate raids in the towns of Durres and Saranda. They arrested two drug trafficking suspects. A large amount of 700 kilograms of marijuana was found in the port of Durres, bound to be shipped to Italy. 300 more kilograms were found in Saranda, meant to be sold in Greece.
The Albanian police also became part of a regional operation codenamed “Trio” which arrested 57 people across five Balkan states after targeting a drug smuggling operation. The regional operation lasted for six months.
Raids took place in Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Albania.
The multinational gang is suspected of trafficking marijuana from Albania, through Montenegro and Bosnia, before distributing it in Croatia.
Four persons were arrested on Monday in northern Albania, on suspicion of involvement in drug trafficking. Police said that the arrests were part of a regional operation launched in Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania and Serbia, aimed against traffickers. During the search in northern Albania police seized around 12 kilograms of marijuana and some automatic weapons.
It is a well-known fact that Albania is a country of origin for the cannabis sativa. Despite efforts from police, people all around the country and especially in its southern commune of Lazarat continue to grow cannabis to be trafficked somewhere. But strangely enough authorities are reluctant to cut that trafficking from the roots. There have been some attempts during which police troops were resisted with weapons from the alleged marijuana ‘farmers’ there.
As Albania seeks EU integration, it is clear that fighting drug trafficking remains a top priority. Yet this also entails starting from the place where it is planted, grown and then packed to be trafficked.