Police brave enough to enter Lazarat, at last

TIRANA, July 10 – Yes, Albanians may say that for their police and, why not, also be proud of them.
Lazarat is a village in southernmost Albania, close to the city of Gjirokastra near the Greek border.
It has always been known as a source of cannabis sativa produced in the country.
Albania is considered a country of origin for cannabis, one of the biggest producers in Europe, and Lazarat may take most of those credits.
Everyone knew that cannabis is planted and grown there. Every inhabitant in the Gjirokastra district could say that.
Many would say that is a good place for jobs for scores of unemployed, mainly women from the city too.
Surprisingly that was not known to police, the commune leaders there and also the top government.
In fact, that was an irony as that is normally not possible. But the government always tried to avoid such a question and some officials always tried to put aside the clear evidence that cannabis has been planted there.
During the last weeks there seemed that police and the government could take it no more, likely from the general pressure inside and outside the country.
Police started first surrounding the area near Lazarat. They started to stop scores of women going to work with the cannabis plants. They tried and managed to block any traffic going out of the village.
And at last Tuesday morning they ‘attacked’ the village. Some 200 policemen of different forces, including the local ones, entered the village and cut or destroyed some 7,000 cannabis plants. They also arrested five persons taking care of them.
That was the brave act this week, at last.
Why at last, one may ask. Because in previous cases police were afraid to get near Lazarat. In other cases when police tried or made efforts to enter the village they would be confronted with Kalashnikov shots. Such shots also threatened the nearby city of Gjirokastra. In one case the Lazarat cannabis planters even shot against an Italian helicopter trying to film them.
This time too there were shots from people inside the village against police. But they did not stop them to go into there, though from a different route. That doesn’t matter. What matters is that police called on the people not to side with the cannabis persons or they would be responded the same way, with weapons shots.
That was a good step from police, one long waited for and wanted for by the people and the international community.
Now they should also fully enter and check the area (as they checked only the outskirts of the village this time). And, more important, they should take all the accountable persons to the law.
Because that is the way to throw aside claims that the Lazarat cannabis was planted from persons assisting with those money the politics, or certain groupings.
That would be the way to tell the world that Lazarat is not a black spot in its map.