TIRANA, Jan. 29 – Gjirokastra Border Police arrested seven people at Drite village, next to the Albanian-Greek border, when it found and sequestered around 700 kilos of marijuana inside a building on Tuesday.
Details on the operation have still not been made public, but it was reported those arrested are linked to narcotics’ transportation networks next to the border, which later distribute them to the rest of Greece.
Greek police has reported several cases of narcotic drugs originating from Albania this month, mainly in areas close to the border between the two countries.
Greece is the second country after Italy where the narcotic drugs being cultivated in Albania are transported. During the summer of 2018, Albanian police said they had significantly curbed the cultivation of marijuana, but the trafficking activity remained high, also due to previous years’ leftover quantities.
According to law enforcement officials, criminal drug networks mostly exploit the transport of narcotic drugs to couriers in border areas.
Then, from the collection bases, criminal groups displace narcotics using a similar scheme on the Greek side. Other networks operate to transport drugs to Greek cities, especially to tourist areas, where the use of marijuana is bigger.
Only two days ago, Greek police in the city of Kavala cracked down on an Albanian-Greek criminal network, arresting six – three Greek and three Albanian citizens – and sequestering an amount of marijuana.
Police crackdown on Greek-Albanian criminal network
Greek police in the city of Kavala cracked down on an Albanian-Greek criminal network, arresting six – three Greek and three Albanian citizens – and sequestering an amount of marijuana.
According to Greek authorities, two of the arrested were responsible of illegally passing the cannabis through the border, while four others were handling its distribution to other parts of Greece.
Greek police was able to find out the location of where the narcotics were stored, in a building in Thessaloniki, seizing about 100 kilos of marijuana and arresting a person.
Greek police said concerning the criminal network that it also suspended during the crackdown materials used for drug packaging, an amount of cash and a car used for distribution.
Large quantities of marijuana continue to be transported from Albania to Greece through drug trafficking networks operating on both sides of the border. Only during the month of January, Greek police discovered six cases in the Epirus area, neighboring with Albania, arresting several people and blocking several hundred kilograms of marijuana.
