Record amount of drugs stopped at Greek border

TIRANA, Nov. 26 – Albanian police said Monday they had arrested a person after finding op to two tons of cannabis sativa in a truck trying to cross into neighboring Greece. Isuf Duka, 50, was arrested Sunday afternoon at the Kakavie border crossing point, 250 kilometers south of Tirana, when police found 2.04 tons of cannabis packed in 72 large sport bags and five sacks. The arrest followed a long investigation, codenamed Weekend, by police in the southern district of Gjirokastra close to the Greek border.
Post-communist Albania has become a frequent transit point for smugglers taking people, drugs and weapons into the European Union because of its lax border controls, weak judiciary and corrupt police force. Albania has been told it must curb trafficking if it wants to join the EU and NATO. In another operation in neighboring Greece, police traced three vehicles carrying more than 300 kilos of cannabis and a Kalashnikov machine gun in Grevena. Albanian suspects were arrested, though two accomplices managed to escape. During recent days, large amounts of cannabis and cocaine coming from Albania, have also been confiscated by police in Macedonia, according to the Greek press.