State Police failed to implement orders that could have prevented airport robbery

10/04/2019 20:44

The robbery that took place within the premises of the Tirana Airport, on the tarmac, breaching this way the national security, was not something new for the Albanian Police.

All of this could have been prevented if the Police had implemented the order issued by the former Interior Minister, Fatmir Xhafaj, on August 5th, 2018, to offer security to items and transportation procedures belonging to the banking sector.

“The transportation of monetary assets valued more than 950.000.000 ALL, besides the security offered by the private services, will also have the State Police protection, which must plan and take the necessary security measures based on the current law”, the order says.

If this order had been implemented, the plan to rob 10 million Euros that were being transported by three banks to Austria would have met resistance by the police, despite the fact that the robbery had been planned with military discipline.

The State Police has also failed to implement another part of this order, which provides a series of security measures to the sacks containing the currency.

“The agreement between the parties specifies the category of the armed vehicles, the minimal and maximal value that needs to be escorted, the usage of GPS trackers, code-colored paint for every bank, registration camera, SOS signals, radio communication, etc”.

None of these elements were used on any of the 7 (out of 15) bags with currency that the robbers were able to take.

Minister Lleshaj didn’t answer to why one of the persons involved with the robbery and who was killed in a firefight with the police, had never been caught although he was on the run for six years. Not only that, but during this time he has been able to plan and execute four robberies in three years, by challenging the State Police and by breaching national security.

The three Interior Ministers have only tried to blame other parties for the robberies that have taken place so far.

 

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