Saimir Tahiri

Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri has written to his Greek and Italian counterparts, calling for greater cooperation among regional security agencies in the fight against organized crime.

Albania’s Interior Minister said in the letter that Albanian and other criminal organizations “are cooperating in a very structured manner in the border triangle between Albania, Greece and Italy, in human and narcotics trafficking”.

He called on his counterparts to step up collaboration, especially in terms of monitoring joint border areas in the Adriatic and Ionian Sea, where the maritime frontiers between the three countries meet.

“Intensification of our efforts in an integrated form between the security forces of the three countries would better serve the relationship in terms of regional border security,” he added.

The UU Office on Drug and Crime, UNODOC, Global Narcotics Report for 2013 lists Albania among the top ten countries in the world when it comes to seizures of heroin and cannabis.

The 2013 US State Department Narcotics Control Report, for its part, highlighted a startling growth in marijuana seizures in Albania over the past year, which it said hinted at increased production.

‘The drastic increase in marijuana seizures, a 175 per cent increase over 2011, signifies an increase in local production after trending downward over the prior two years,” the US report said.

Cannabis seizures in 2012 totaled almost 21.2 metric tons, nearly double the amount seized in 2011, it noted.

Heroin and cocaine discoveries also more than doubled to 87.7 kilograms and 4.6 kg, respectively./balkaninsight/