TIRANA, Sept. 21 – Police in the Italian town of Brindisi, in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, seized 682 kilograms of marijuana smuggled from Albania.
The operation was launched after the Albanian police tipped their Italian counterparts over a speedboat carrying suspicious bags spotted about three kilometers from Vjosa river, in the northern corner of the coastal town of Vlora.
“First, the police spotted the speedboat with lights off that was traveling 30 miles away from Brindisi. Guarda di Finanzia was deployed in the area while the three men that were spotted in the speedboat, abandoned the vehicle as soon as it made it to the shore,” noted a press release issued by Italian authorities.
According to Italian authorities the drugs should have been placed on the drug markets in the southern regions of Italy. If the seized drug had been placed on the market its value would have reached more than EUR 7 million.
Last week police in the port city of Durres seized 700 kg of marijuana, whose final destination was Italy, whilst Italian police seized 3.8 tons of marijuana in the town of Lecce and arrested 9 Albanian citizens. According to an annual report of the Italian Anti-Drugs department, authorities in Italy seized 67,829 kg of marijuana in 2015. The report noted that vast amounts of the drugs were transported from Albania using small speedboats.
