A recent report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which analyzes in detail organized crime in the Western Balkans, has highlighted that Albania is the main country in Europe of cannabis origin for 2014-2018, while Albanian criminal groups have already spread throughout Europe, mainly in cocaine trafficking from South American countries. 

The report states that most of the punishments are in the cultivation of narcotics, less in money laundering, while it finds that there are not many punishments for organized criminal groups. According to the report, based on interviews, drug trafficking and production seem to be often linked to organized crime, however, participation in organized crime has very low levels of punishment in Albania. 

"This shows the need to examine in more detail at what stage the cases are failing and to continue analyzing the reasons for these failures," the report said. According to the report, organized crime is also affected by the high level of corruption, while it is skeptical about the progress of the vetting process. Bribery, corruption and obstruction of justice are some of the tools that facilitate organized crime. 

"Corruption is a serious problem in Albania, especially within the police and law enforcement agencies. The government introduced justice reforms and changes to laws on police personnel and vetting. However, despite the arrests and existing prosecutions of public officials for bribery, there were no convictions during the observed period," the report said.

The report states that to date, most of the recorded criminal activities included in this analysis in Albania relate to domestic cannabis production, mainly cannabis (marijuana) and drug trafficking. In this case, Albania acts mainly as a transit country, especially for heroin trafficking along the Balkan route, ie, through Turkey, Bulgaria, North Macedonia in Italy and other markets in Western and Central Europe, and for cocaine trafficking from South America, especially from Colombia, to Western and Central Europe. While the involvement of Albanian groups in such trafficking activities appears to have declined in recent years, cannabis production and related trafficking of cannabis products in other countries have increased - although these activities have fluctuated significantly over the years.

(Source: Monitor)