Royal family takes back seized weapons from police

TIRANA, Feb. 21 – The Albanian royal family will take back its weaponry it said was a collection and did not serve to be used in daily practice.
That was based on a government decision, which added that no ammunition would be returned.
Upon its final return to the country in 2002 police seized 11 cases of 84 automatic weapons, grenades and hunting arms brought to Albania by the son of the former king.
Leka Zog returned with his family to Albania after decades in exile. The Zog family presented documents stating that the weapons were legal and served only as a collection accumulated for many years.
A royal family spokesman said at the time it was a private collection of weapons which Zog had in a corner of his house of Johannesburg. The collection contained 84 weapons, including Kalashnikovs, grenades and hunting arms.
The family is also obliged to hire a private security company to protect the collection, the government decision said.
Zog, who has lived for much of the past 20 years in South Africa, hasn’t revealed what he plans to do in Albania, although he is not expected to play a role in Albanian politics.
Zog’s father, Ahmet, was a Muslim chieftain who declared himself king in 1928 and ruled until the Italian army invaded the country in 1939.
Albania’s monarchy was abolished by Albania’s communist rulers in 1946 and Ahmet Zog died in 1961 in Paris.