Thousands of kilograms of cannabis and heroine, hundreds of guns and a
considerable amount of ammunition, various identification documents,
including Serbian citizenship, and 18 people arrested. This is the
balance of the police operation in Lazarat.
Police declared that so far they have eliminated 107,400 plants and young trees of cannabis, 34 tons of dried cannabis, and 8 packages of heroine that were found in the village center. Police is working to identify the owner.
During the inspection the officers also found police uniforms, one sniper rifle, various identity documents, even a Serbian one, for which they are making verifications. They also seized five labs, two for processing narcotics and 2 for marijuana oil.
Besides cannabis, police seized an entire arsenal of weapons, 42 automatic fire weapons and rifles, four handguns, three machine guns, one RPG, one mortar, one grenade launcher, two old rifles and 1 hunting gun. They also seized 37,084 bullets of different types, 9 crates with bullets, three cases with bullets, seven dynamite sticks, 2 packages of detonators, 16 grenades, four boxes of grenades for grenade launchers, five vehicles filled with ammunition and 10 empty ones.
The police has searches 250 houses so far, and they will continue searching during the weekend.
According to the Chief of Police, 30 suspects are on the run, accused of shooting against the police. Not all of them were Lazarat residents. Some might have been hired by cultivators, or they were also criminals who had find shelter in the village.
Veliaj: Lazarat “tumor” removed
The Minister of Social Welfare and Youth, Erion Veliaj, declared that the employment office will be at service for the Lazarat youth, so that they can improve their lives through honest work.
Veliaj declared from Pogradec, where he was part of an activity, that Gjirokaster is a free area now, with potentials of employment and development.
“The village has turned into a normal space in Albania. The situation there was intolerable, a real tumor, and I am happy that the only problem of Gjirokaster, today is not there anymore. Our employment office in Gjirokaster has started working and I think that there are many employment options there”, Veliaj declared.
Police is documenting the identity of people who were part of the cultivation and distribution of narcotics, since most of the men have left their homes while police was advancing.
According to the Vice Chief of Police, Altin Qato, 30 people are on the run from the police, as part of the group that shot against the authority. Among them there were people who were not residents of Lazarat, criminals who had found shelter in a police-free area.
Normal life returns in Lazarat
A few days after shots were heard everywhere in this village, life in Lazarat seems to have turned to normality. The alleys are still empty and the special forces have not abandoned their positions. The houses were populated in the early hours, while residents kept bringing out the drug that is being burned by the police. But their marks for 20 years cannot be deleted from the village. The entire infrastructure of the village was made for serving to the cultivation of cannabis.
The village is populated mostly with women and children, while men turned only to families where police didn’t find any drug. More than two thirds of the village residents are waiting for the final police results before coming home.
Most of the surrounding services, like bars and shops, are still closed, but residents think that normality has returned.
The experts say they have searched 60% of the village’s area.
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