TIRANA, Sept. 2 – A policeman of the rapid intervention unit was killed on duty on Friday in a northern Albanian village in an operation to arrest a person believed to be mentally ill.
Ardian Kodra, 50, was severely wounded while trying to arrest David Qosja, a 27-year-old man in village of Torovica, Lezha. He was shot in fire exchanges by the young man and died in hospital.
The 27-year-old man, known by the local community as a person with mental disorders, had earlier terrorized the village by firing gunshots in the air. He was arrested in his village house on Friday evening after four hours of resistance and fire exchanges with police who used an armoured tank and tear gas to stop him.
In October 2015, Simon Gjeta, a 49-year-old special intervention policeman was also killed in an operation in Shkodra villages while trying to arrest a wanted person.
Earlier in June 2015, a member of Albania’s RENEA elite police forces was killed and two others were wounded in the notorious marijuana-growing village of Lazarat during a crackdown operation.
