Interior Minister: “Cannabis problem ends this year”. OSCE Ambassador: “Still a lot to be done”

24/02/2017 00:00

The Minister of Interior, Saimir Tahiri, promised that 2017 will be the end of the cannabis story in Albania.

His declaration was released during a meeting with the OSCE Ambassador to Tirana, Bernd Borchardt, and the Swedish Ambassador, whose country has donated 3.3 million EUR for the Albanian police.

“Let the police do its job and you will see spectacular results. We will close Albania’s cannabis chapter once and for all. This year is decisive. We started it with Lazarat, we will end it everywhere in Albania”, Tahiri said.

The OSCE Ambassador said that the report which caused debates belonged to 2013. However, Albania has a lot to do in the fight against the drug traffic.

“In 2013 Albania has produced almost 1000 tons of cannabis, and with the market value of Berlin, Rome and Western Europe, it reaches 2 billion EUR. Last year, 2.5 million plants of cannabis were destroyed. This shows that a lot of the criminal energy remains. I wanted to congratulate the State Police for identifying such high quantities. However, the frequent seizing of high quantities in the Adriatic shows that this work must continue”, Borchardt said.

According to the OSCE Ambassador, Albania must progress with the judiciary reform too, and stop dirty money from entering the ecltoral system.

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