The man accused of killing a seven-year-old girl in Himara through dangerous driving of a RIB, Arjan Tase, who was also a police officer, was previously accused of drug charges.
Tase has been arrested for causing death by carelessness and, if convicted, faces either a fine or up to five years in prison. But this is not the first time the former police commissioner has been in trouble with the law.
In 2020, Tase was accused of abuse of office for allowing the cultivation of cannabis. He was investigated by prosecutor Maksim Sota who took the case to trial. The request was accepted by the court, and the trial was due to start. But shortly after being placed on house arrest, the case was passed into the hands of another prosecutor, Arjan Xhaferia, and it was dismissed.
His file reads, “The person under investigation, Arjan Tase, with the duty of Chief of the Himarë Police Station for the period of time when the events took place, by illegal omission, did not exercise his functional duty for the control of the territory and the control of the police officers subordinate to him, allowing indirectly, the persons under investigation in the large-scale exercise of the illegal activity of cultivation and production of the narcotic substance Cannabis Sativa in the Hore Vranisht Administrative Unit.”
Tase never faced trial for the charges against him.
The girl was killed after Tase’s boat hit her while he was driving it in an area designated for swimmers, where boats are prohibited.
Civil society has called a protest for Thursday and has said it was not the boat that killed the little girl but the state. They are calling for the resignation of Interior Minister Bledi Cuci, Director General of the State Police Gledis Nano, and Tourism Minister Mirela Kumbaro.
Kumbaro reacted on Twitter where she said the accident was caused by the stupidity of a man who broke every law, rule, and norm. She called for the justice structures to be able to do their work without compromise.
