After several months of investigation into the cultivation of narcotic plants in the Shkodra District, the Police Monitoring Agency, in cooperation with the Shkodra Prosecutor’s Office, carried out security measures on Sunday against 13 current and former officials of the Shkodra Police.
Evidence and facts have been presented against them, raising suspicions that they have favored the cultivation of narcotic plants in the administrative unit “Ana Malit”, near the city of Shkodra and the border crossing of Muriqan, at the border with Montenegro.
The officials of the Shkodra District Police are accused of intentionally neglecting to take necessary measures to prevent, identify, and bring to justice the perpetrators and their accomplices, thus creating favorable conditions for their escape.
The First Instance Court in Shkodra has imposed personal security measures, including “travel ban” and “Suspension from exercising a public duty or service”, against 11 police employees at the Shkodra Local Police Directorate.
Among them are the deputy director for crime investigation, the former chief of the Shkodra Police Station, currently serving as the chief of order at the Tirana Police Directorate, the chief of the community policing sector, and the chief of the investigation sector at the Police Monitoring Agency, Shkodra Region.
A more severe security measure was taken by court against the Chief of the Crime Investigation Section at the Shkodra Police Station, Pëllumb Shpati, and the Community Policing Specialist Assistant, Inspector Taulant Kurtaj.
The court ordered “house arrest” for them due to suspicions of abuse of duty committed in collaboration, as well as “assistance to the perpetrator of the crime”.
In January of this year, explosives were placed in the residence of Pëllumb Shpati, chief of the crime section at the Shkodra police, by unidentified individuals.
As a result of the explosion, there were only material damages, while Shpati and his family stated that the incident was related to his duty as the chief of the crime section.
The involvement of 13 officials and employees of the Shkodra Police Directorate demonstrates the lack of effectiveness of the police in the fight against the cultivation of narcotic plants in Shkodra, Malësia e Madhe, Vau Dejës, and Puka.
The Shkodra region continues to be one of the most affected areas by the cultivation of narcotic plants.
In March, near the town of Koplik, 27 greenhouses containing around 8,000 cannabis sativa seedlings were discovered. In June, another six greenhouses with cannabis were found in the Velipoja area.
