Albanian and Italian police who conducted specialized air surveillance say an estimated 900 tons of marijuana are being grown in Lazarat alone. Authorities say the drugs are destined for Western Europe, but a lot of it is being destroyed in the fields or caught before it leaves Albania.
TIRANA, Aug. 8 – Recent air surveillance by authorities has revealed a staggering amount of marijuana plants across the country and in what has been dubbed Albania’s “drugs capital,” Lazarat, a small village in the outskirts of the southern city of Gjirokastra.
Speaking at a press conference, Albanian police officials, who were assisted by the Italian counterparts, said they could locate about 304 marijuana growing operations all over Albania, most which are small.
Albanian police were aided by the aviation unit of the Guardia di Finanza, specialized Italian police forces. The unit’s head, Stefano Bastoni, said in a press conference the surveillance via specialized aircraft took two months.
“In the Lazarat area, which has 319 hectares of cultivated cannabis, which is equal to several football fields, around 900 tons of finished product can be produced. In the European market, at a price of 5 euros per gram, that amount would be worth 4.5 billion euros,” Bastoni said at a press conference in Tirana.
Experts say that is a staggering figure, slightly less than half the gross domestic product of Albania.
Albanian authorities had asked their Italian colleagues for the search be focused on areas it sees as problematic.
“The areas identified as problematic during this year were in the counties of Vlora, Shkodra, Gjirokastra, Tirana and Durres. From the analysis of the results, we are dealing mainly with small cultivated area away from residential areas, particularly in remote areas,” said Albanian Police Director General Hysni Burgaj. “The people doing the growing, like in previous years, in many cases the perpetrators have moved the criminal activity away from the homes to other areas, using their friends and acquaintances.”
Albania’s police chief also said that he had authorized interventions in areas where marijuana growing was found.
“Up to date, we have identified and destroyed crop cultivated in 108 cases, which means about 14,772 plants were destroyed, filed charges on 36 people, 23 of which have been arrested and detained, three are free on bail and 10 are still wanted by police,” Burgaj said the press conference.
Albanian police director said that operations to destroy areas cultivated with marijuana will continue all over the country. He said that much of the marijuana produced is seized before crossing the border, citing last year’s figures, when an estimated 21 tons of marijuana were seized by Albanian police.
But many worry that is not enough, particularly after the staggering amount of cultivation found in the Lazarat area.
The village of Lazarat, that for years has served as the symbol of cultivation of marijuana in Albania, and often seen as a no-go area for Albanian police, which have often clashed with its armed inhabitants. In order to avoid a confrontation that could cost lives, Albanian authorities have switched to policing what comes in and out of the village.
The Italian Guardia di Finanza surveyed all of Albania during the past two months, at the request of Albanian authorities, which do not poses the specialized aircraft needed to identify the areas cultivated with drugs. What they found was that growing is widespread, worrying Albanian and foreign authorities alike.
The data the air surveillance on Lazarat were subject to specialized processing at an Italian university and compared to digital images taken by satellites.
Guardia di Finanza’s aircraft conducted 25 flight missions, monitoring 3,618 square kilometers, equal to 12.5 percent of the surface of Albania, aithorities said at the press conference.
The data processing has made it possible to identify with great accuracy that there are 304 plantations which produce close to 4.5 tons of final product, according to Bastoni.
