TIRANA, Oct. 5 – Albanian state police have made two large seizures of cannabis in the past few days, destroying more than 30,000 marijuana plants.
The first was last week when they raided a house in the northern district of Mat, 90 kilometers north of Tirana. Officers confiscated three metric tons of cannabis and destroyed some 13,000 plants during the operation.
According to a statement issued last week, police said that the drugs were found in a house next to a plantation and that the half-dried buds were ready to be packed for transports.
The owner of the house is still on the run. The operation in the northern district which is now considered Albania’s next marijuana hotspot lasted about three days.
In another operation in the southern districts of Vlora and Fier, police seized 15,000 plants of half dried cannabis and 5.250 plants harvested close to urban areas.
Police arrested six people and seized several weapons and ammunitions, hinting they have targeted a criminal group.
With the marijuana harvesting season now at its peak, operations against drug trafficking and cannabis plantations are taking place on a daily basis.
However, massive amounts continue to make it out of Albania as large seizures of Albanian cannabis in recent days in neighboring Italy show.
Cannabis cultivation has also become part of heated political debate, with the opposition Democrats accusing the the Socialist-led government of not doing enough to fight the practice.
In a recent interview for ABC News, Eduard Kukan, Member of the European Parliament, said that narcotics is becoming a major problem for Albania. He urged authorities to be ruthless against the phenomenon and not put the country’s image at risk.
“The issue of drugs is a huge problem for the country. The government and the relevant authorities should show a ruthless approach to this problem, because otherwise it would be very difficult to change the international image of Albania,” Kukan said.
So far this year, Albanian police has seized 1.8 million plants of marijuana and also tons of narcotics destined for Italy, Greece, Kosovo and Montenegro.
A 2016 report published by the U.S. State Department, considered Albania a major source country for production of marijuana and a transit point for shipments of cocaine and heroin destined to the European markets.
