TIRANA, Feb. 28 – Four people, part of a criminal group related to the organization, financing and trafficking of narcotics, were arrested on Wednesday during a police operation conducted in the Lezha-Shkodra road segment with the support of special police forces.
The detainees are from Velipoja and Vau i Dejà«s.
Sources from the Municipality of Vau Dejes announced that one of the four detainees, Dod Dodani, a resident of the village of Mnelà« in this municipality, is a member of the municipal council, a representative of the Demo-Christian Alliance party.
According to local police, 100 kilograms of narcotics suspected as marijuana were found and seized as material evidence during the arrest.
Also, during the control of Dodani’s apartment, another amount of narcotics was found weighing 222 grams.
The Shkodra Prosecution, in its announcement, said that the Narcotics and Trafficking Investigation Section has gathered sufficient data on the activity of this criminal group related to the organization, financing, transportation and drug trafficking and that it is continuing the operation to arrest other people involved in this drug trafficking line.
At a meeting named ‘For an Albania without cannabis’ organized in mid-February this year, where the report of the Albanian police and Guardia di Finanza was presented on the fight against cannabis during 2018, it was said that Albania has been removed from the cultivation map of narcotic plants and that during 2018, drug trafficking to Italy, compared to the previous year, decreased by 81 percent.
During the second half of last year, Albanian police undertook a massive territory control (warehouses, depots, bunkers, greenhouses, isolated dwellings) and destroyed large quantities of narcotic plants.
But cases discovered this year also show that there are still hidden amounts of narcotic plants that are waiting to be trafficked.
