TIRANA, May 10 – Several drug cultivation sites have reappeared in Albania’s southern regions, authorities said this week, sparking concern about the increase in drug trafficking in the small Balkan country.
Police in the coastal city of Vlora, in collaboration with the Delta Force department and prosecutors destroyed about 340 marijuana plants and seized 40 kg of pressed marijuana hidden in a vehicle traveling in the Drashovica-Kotà« road.
Police said that it started penal proceedings against four officials in the Forestry Department and Administration Units while two others are on the run.
In a press release issued Tuesday, authorities pledged to increase collaboration with all law enforcement agencies to boost inspections in the ground and by helicopters to identify plantation sites in southern Albania.
The city of Vlora, 135 km from the capital Tirana is considered one of the epicenters of drug cultivation and trafficking mostly to Italy.
Marijuana is typically transported from Vlora to Italian port cities by sea.
Authorities have noted an increase in the marijuana shipments by sea, and they reported higher numbers of alleged drug traffic collaborators drowned in the sea.
In the past few months, 30 speedboat drivers were arrested and charged in regards to the transportation of tons of drugs to Italy.
On Monday, authorities from Albania and Italy met to coordinate surveillance flights that will identify marijuana plantations in the country. Italian officials have pledged to increase their aerial inspections by at least 30 percent compared to 2016.
Authorities in Italy claim to apply advanced technology in these aerial inspections which can reduce the time of data processing and pave the way to rapid police interventions in the ground.
A report published by the Italian Guardia di Finanza shows that in 2016, officers identified 2,086 drug plantations sites; and 99.8 percent of these sites were confirmed by Albanian officials, which led to the destruction of 740,000 marijuana plants, equal to 30 percent of the total of destroyed narcotics in the country.
The figures however caused doubt among experts in Albania, particularly after the discovery of tons of marijuana in Albanian territory bound for European markets.
Italy and Greece have identified Albania as the country of origin for tons of drugs shipped every month to these countries.
Only in April, authorities seized a record 12 tons of marijuana hidden in an abandoned depot in the city of Permet.
In its latest report on Albania, Freedom House said that police raids and crackdowns in Albania are not sufficient to put an end to the phenomenon as drug traffickers manage to supply the EU market by taking advantage of poor farmers and corrupting state officials.
