ASSOCIATED PRESS
Albania, a
small country in southeastern Europe, has become the epicenter of the
European drugs trade, especially marijuana. This should come as no
surprise. With its extensive coastline along the Adriatic, this region
of the Balkans has long been the trailhead for illicit goods, weapons
and drugs hiking into the heart of Europe. This activity has bolstered
the rise of organized crime and political corruption in a country that
already faces many domestic challenges.
What makes the
current situation unique are the allegations, especially coming from the
opposition Democratic Party, that senior officials of the ruling
Socialist Party are connected to or benefit from the drug trade. Prime
Minister Edi Rama has been repeatedly accused of failing to do enough to
stop Albania’s role in Europe’s drug trade. And Interior Minister
Saimir Tahiri has even been accused of protecting—and even covering up
for—those involved in the drug trade.
These allegations raise the question: What could possibly motivate
Albania’s governing elite to get tangled up in the murky world of
organized crime and drug smuggling?
Perhaps they
stand to gain personally. Maybe it’s part of a larger plan to retain
power. Albania suffers from political and economic corruption as much
as, if not more than, the rest of the Balkans. Millions of dollars could
buy off a lot of judges, journalists, and prosecutors and help secure
electoral victory well into the future.
Whatever the motivation, something fishy is going on.
Earlier this month, an Italian pilot, Andrea Guidi, crash landed in
a field north of Albania’s capital of Tirana. At first Guidi claimed he
was flying over Albania for recreational reasons. However, a journalist
named Artan Hoxha claimed that the pilot had told prosecutors that he
was checking out the terrain before returning 20 days later to pick up
200kg of cannabis. Considering the history of small aircraft being used to transport drugs out of Albania, this explanation seems plausible.
Soon authorities detained Mr. Hoxha, apparently for releasing sensitive information to the public. The plot thickened when the opposition Democratic Party
suggested that the information that Mr. Hoxha shared was actually
released by Interior Minister Tahiri as a ploy to “compromise the
investigation” and cover-up the nefarious acts of the drug traffickers.
Earlier this year, Greek authorities accused the Albanian government of
protecting and covering up for Klemend Balili, an Albanian businessman
who served as a local administration official in the southern Albanian
city of Saranda. Balili is suspected of financing a racket exporting
marijuana from Albania to Western Europe. Again, Albania’s opposition
Democratic Party was quick to point out Mr. Balili’s political
connections and accused Tahiri of protecting the alleged kingpin.
The government’s inconsistency regarding what it is doing to put an end to Albania’s drug problem is also sowing distrust. Last year Albanian authorities claimed to have destroyed 99.2 percent of the country’s marijuana. This is fanciful. Already this year, police claim to have destroyed 1.7 million cannabis plants which apparently is three times the amount destroyed last year. The math doesn’t add up.
The government’s inconsistency regarding what it is doing to put an end to Albania’s drug problem is also sowing distrust. Last year Albanian authorities claimed to have destroyed 99.2 percent of the country’s marijuana. This is fanciful. Already this year, police claim to have destroyed 1.7 million cannabis plants which apparently is three times the amount destroyed last year. The math doesn’t add up.
In many ways a
country like Albania is ripe for this sort of venality and illicit
activity. It ranks 88th in the world in Transparency International’s
most recent Corruption Perceptions Index. And The Heritage Foundation’s 2016 Index of Economic Freedom gave the country a “repressed” rating— lowest rating possible in the category of corruption.
Even so,
Albania has much to be proud of. The country became a full member of
NATO in 2008, becoming only the second Muslim-majority nation in the
alliance. In 2014 it became an official candidate to join the EU. For a
country located in the turbulent, economically depressed and war torn
Balkans region these are no mean feats.
But the level
of corruption emanating from the political elite and the country’s role
in Europe’s illegal drug trade—both occurring with the alleged
complicity of senior government officials—should concern policymakers in
Washington, D.C., and across Europe.
Not only is
this unbecoming for a country aspiring to become a closer member of the
Euro-Atlantic community, it runs the risk of further destabilizing an
already volatile region.
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