A 40-year-old man was arrested yesterday for illegally transporting migrants through Albania.
He was appended on the road between Pogradec and Qafe Thane while driving a truck. Inside the vehicle, police discovered a total of 68 migrants that had sought transit through Albania. It’s reported they had paid EUR 150 each for transport through the country, with the final destination being an EU Member State.
Last night, another man was arrested for transporting 35 migrants including women, children, and a three-month-old baby. The arrest was made in the village of Mborje near Korçe.
Another van was caught near Drenovo with 20 migrants squeezed into the back of a car. The driver escaped and is now wanted by the police.
Albania is one of the main transit countries used by organized crime gangs to smuggle people from the Middle East to the EU.
During July and August, there were around 50 arrests of people engaged in migrant smuggling.
They enter the country at the borders of North Macedonia or Greece, are picked up, and then transported to Tirana. Many then have a few days of rest at a ‘safe house’ and are then transported on to the border with Montenegro or Kosovo.
In 2020, around 12,000 immigrants were apprehended in Albania and traffickers earned at least EUR 11.5 million. The real figures are likely considerably higher, as traffickers have spoken of collaboration and even assistance from authorities.
Exit has investigated in detail how migrants are moved through the country, and how the organized crime gangs work.
