TIRANA, Oct. 2 – Italy’s Guardia di Finanza has concluded its mission in Albania, through which it helped local authorities locate marijuana growing areas that were later targeted for destruction.
The Albanian police formally thanked the commitment of the Italian specialized aircraft that in collaboration with the University of Naples identified 1,368 cannabis growing areas during 36 flight missions carried out starting last June.
Based on that information, the Albanian police intervened and destroyed more than 700,000 cannabis plants throughout the country, with an estimated European market value of about 7 billion euros.
The Albanian government has set fighting drug trafficking and cultivation as a top goal and it has made immense progress in the past two years, officials say.
Albanian police have continued their countrywide operations against drug planting or trafficing. Almost every day there are reports of people arrested and cannabis destroyed.
