Minister of the Interior Sander Lleshaj declared that “Albania has the best situation of order in its history”.
Speaking during the plenary session, Lleshaj said that 75 percent of Albanian citizens today feel safe in the country:
“Security is also defined as the absence of fear, citizens are safe when they feel safe and are not afraid. 75% of the citizens of Albania today think that they feel safe, even safe when traveling only in the villages of Albania.
“The level of security in the country is the best we have had in decades, although far from our expectations.”
It is not known were this figure of 75% came from. Figures on how safe the public feel are not readily available. A 2019 report from the UNDP said however, that only 54.6% of the population trust the police.
Also, the US State Department considers Albania as a “medium-threat” country. It notes that “Organized crime has a noted impact on Albania, with a network of criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking, extortion, bribery, money laundering, prostitution, and human trafficking.”
Furthermore, while there appears to have been a decrease in the number of violent crimes in 2019, the number of murders increased. Domestic violence remains a significant threat with more than half of Albanian women experiencing it at least once in their lifetime. Cases of statutory rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment are also on the increase.
Also, Lleshaj said that the police are doing a good job of investigating criminal matters.
“The level of crackdown and detection of criminal events has increased significantly. A lot of tangled up years of crime are being unraveled at an encouraging pace.”
Also, according to Lleshaj, 2019 has been a successful year against cannabis trafficking in the country.
The State Police recently issued a statement against Albanian media regarding their reporting on cannabis cultivation.
They accused the media of “irresponsible insinuations and film footage that is ‘sold’ as current images only misinform citizens and unjustly damage the image of the country.”
In the statement, the police claim that 2020 “is another year of depending success in the fight against cannabis cultivation” thanks to the efforts of the police. They said that their crackdown on criminals in the country has been strong and that the amount of cannabis in the country has reached “very low levels”.
The facts are that Albania is 6th globally for cannabis resin imports to Europe according to the World Drug Report from the United Nations.
Earlier this year, the Italian Antimafia division reported for 2019 that Albania is Europe’s main marijuana source. It also said the country is a key transit point for heroin and that revenue from these activities is often reinvested into Albania in tourism and construction.
RAI3 also reported that cultivation of cannabis in Albania had increased by 1200% in the last year (2019). Albanian authorities vehemently denied the accusation, made by Italian Prosecutor Giacomo Cataldi and reported by journalist Valerio Cataldi.
The Belgrade Centre for Security and Policy predicted that cannabis cultivation in Albania would increase due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This would be due to a lack of police supervision as their work is directed elsewhere. It noted that cannabis is still “very much present on the market” in the region.
Europol noted that Albania, “a producer of herbal cannabis for the European market” was likely to produce more of the drug due to law enforcement resources being diverted to managing the pandemic.
Then in June, Minister of the Interior Sander Lleshaj admitted during a virtual meeting with the Chief of the State Police, Ardi Veliu, that cannabis was being cultivated in the country’s main districts.
Most recently, the Civil Society Observatory said that Albanians are shifting from growing cannabis locally and are growing it indoors in Western Europe instead. The report states that while Albania has favourable growing conditions, complemented by weak governance and corruption, robust police crackdowns since 2017 have just displaced it elsewhere. This includes countries like Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
It also predicted that 2020 could see an increase in production due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
