Cocaine dissolved in water

This decision was taken despite the fact that it is impossible to know if the drug load destination was the Albanian market or if Albania was once again a transitory route.

During the closed doors session, sources cite the accused telling to the judge that he only ordered palm oil to trade and no drugs to traffic, but if “it was drugs, I apologize”.

His defending lawyer, Ardian leka, held the same stance and argued that Albanian law recognizes only the value of captured loads, not the load replacement method, recognized by Belgium.

More specifically, the load captured in Gjirokastra and claimed as cocaine, was in fact drinkable water. Unofficial sources suggest that the load suspected as drug coming from Columbia was in fact captured in Belgium by local authorities.

What remains unknown is the fact that on the execution day of this top priority operation that involved eight countries, there was an information leak exactly when the load was passing through Albania, and also the fact that the General Prosecution and State Police did not give a joint press release as they normally do after operations of this level.

The route of the load suspected as cocaine dissolved in palm oil started from Columbia to Spain, Belgium, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia and Albania.

Trust is one of the biggest problems facing the foreign authorities who cooperate with Albania’s State Police and General Prosecution on high profile antinarcotics operations.

In many occasions of drug load arrivals in the country, Albanian authorities get notified by their foreign counterparts only in the last moments.

It is not the first time that drug loads have been replaced by other legal materials.

On two other high level operations against international drug trafficking, when Albania was considered as the destination and not a transit country, the foreign authorities have taken the same measures.

They replaced the load beforehand not fearing information leaks, but because it could disappear before arriving at destination.

The silently indicated argument remains once again the distrust.

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