“The Albanian government has prioritized its counter-narcotics effort
and directs its limited law enforcement and border security resources
against this objective, rather than against terrorism, which it has seen
as a less immediate threat”, says the report of the United States
Department of State for terrorism in the world for 2013.
The report says that “the change in government did not affect Albania’s overall counterterrorism efforts, with the new administration continuing the country’s strong collaboration relationship with the United States”.
“Albanian government institutions have been aware since 2012 that a small group of Albanians have traveled to fight in Syria”, says the document of the Department of State.
The report also refers to the Albanian legislation, which “criminalizes terrorist acts; recruiting and training persons to commit terrorist actions; incitement of terrorist actions; and establishing, leading, and participating in a terrorist organization. The Albanian State Police has established a counterterrorism sector within the Directorate for Serious Crimes of the Department of Criminal Investigations.”
The report underlines that “while Albania has the political will to cooperate with countries in the region on counterterrorism initiatives, it lacked the capacity to implement effective controls.”
The 2013 report on Albania mentions that “corruption coupled with a poorly functioning judicial system continued to hinder Albanian efforts in law enforcement. Albania does not have the capacity to collect biometric data other than that contained on biometric identity cards presented at border crossing points”.
It adds that “fingerprint data from clandestine migrants is collected, but not all border control points are equipped with live scanners, resulting in a delay in fingerprints being included in electronic databases or identification of individuals based on fingerprint data.”
“Since June 2012, Albania has made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and Moneyval to address its strategic anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism deficiencies”, the report continues.
It notes that “progress has been made but work remains to enhance the framework for international cooperation related to terrorist financing and to ensure and implement an adequate legal framework for identifying, tracing, and freezing terrorist assets”.
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