Albania Police Foil Bank Robbery, Kidnap Attempt

Crime scene

Police disarmed and arrested a suspected bank robber who held a teenage girl at gun point for almost an hour in one of Tirana's most populous neighbourhoods on Friday afternoon.

According to police the kidnapper was identified as Romeo Leka, a 25-year old from the region of Mirdita in Northern Albania, with residence in the city of Durres. Leka has reportedly already served time in the US for narcotics trafficking.

Leka held the nineteen year old girl at gun point for nearly 45 minutes after robbing a local branch of Raiffeisen Bank in the crowded Bllok neighbourhood – just outside the president’s office.

Police and special forces units then sealed off the area and were able to get close to the suspect and eventually disarm him, freeing the girl literally from the suspect's hands.

Albania has being plague by a series of bank robberies lately and police have asked for better training of security companies that protect banks