Minister wants to postpone lifting ban on speed boats

TIRANA, Aug 20 – Albania’s Interior Minister, Bujar Nishani, asked for an extension on the country’s ban on speedboats made two years ago to stop illegal smuggling.
“I believe that the moratorium should be extended beyond October because border police are not yet equipped with the necessary means to stop trafficking along the coast,” said Nishani during a press conference.
The moratorium, aimed to stop traffickers in both people and drugs who use speedboats to reach the shores of Italy and Greece, is due to expire in October.
The ban has affected some 2,000 local speedboat owners. The only small motorized vessels now allowed to venture into the sea from Albanian shores are police, customs and fishing boats, and foreign-owned tourist yachts. Speedboats were commonly used in the 1990s to traffic migrants and drugs from Albania to Italy, which ended when they were banned. But critics say the law is unnecessary since the illegal traffic does not begin on the sea, but on land. They also claim that is hurting Albania’s tourism industry. (Tirana Times Staff)