Representatives of the State Police of Albania and the State Police of Italy, are holding Friday a joint conference where they are giving an overview of the situation regarding the joint monitoring for the crackdown and prevention of cultivation of narcotic plants.

In his speech, the General Director of Police Gledis Nano said that in the framework of cooperation with Italian partners it has become possible to stop and demolish many parcels of cultivation of narcotics.

Among other things, Nano in his speech has indicated that during 2021 there has been a 100% decrease in narcotics trafficking.

He also stressed that 165 local officials have been prosecuted for abuse of office.

"We must not forget that the year 2020, as well as the year 2019 before it, had specifics related to the continuation of measures within the control of the Pandemic by COVID-19. Added to this was the challenge of guaranteeing the smooth running of the process for the General Elections for the Assembly of Albania, which we passed successfully, receiving the evaluations of local and international institutions and bodies.

In addition to awareness, periodic control of the territory for the identification of areas cultivated with narcotic plants began. We provided information and hit the planting of seedlings and the cultivation of cannabis in solar greenhouses, abandoned tunnels and any other environment possible for use by criminal groups.

We have divided the areas of control and responsibilities, organizing groups responsible for concrete territories, from the center to the base, where each police officer had responsibilities for a certain territory.

- In total for 2021, the State Police has performed a total of 145,555 checks and 383,689 hours of service;

- The control of the territory has been intensified through the use of drones, where for 2021, 50 drones have been used, out of 24 used in 2019 and 38 used for 2020;

- For aerial monitoring, the helicopters of the Ministry of Defense have been used efficiently, where for this year 69 flight hours have been performed.

During 2021, the previously created digital map was enriched with the latest data on lands, forest areas, etc., where narcotic plants were cultivated over the years or potentially narcotic plants could be cultivated during 2021.

The implementation and functioning of the electronic system "GIS-NARKOTIK" of the State Police has continued. This system provided complete data and enabled analytical reports for:

- Territorial control;

- Information submitted by other law enforcement agencies, tracking and tracing of this information;

- Aerial monitoring and field tracking reports of this data;

Cases and places of cultivation of narcotic plants.

It was important to obtain, evaluate and analyze police information, as through the orientation of information sources, the Police built its work and controlled persons with criminal records by launching proactive investigations, as follows:

- For 2021, 7023 police information on the cultivation of narcotic plants were received and processed, or 2,647 information more than a year ago;

- 219 preventive interceptions were followed for the subjects suspected of criminal activities of cultivation of narcotic plants, 98 more than a year ago;

- 140 proactive proceedings were referred and followed with special methods of investigation against the cultivation of narcotic plants, 32 proceedings more than a year ago;

- 25 cases of seizure of cannabis sativa seeds were identified, where 3 kg 495 grams and 15,397 cannabis sativa seeds were seized or 9 cases and 2 kg 310 gr and 26,798 seeds more than last year.

Another direction of our work has been to strengthen the capacities of specialized units for the fight against drugs through training, information evaluation and equipping with the necessary tools.

Particular attention has been paid to cooperation with international partners, seeing the issue of cannabis cultivation as a real regional and international concern. We have already set the standard for cooperation through the exchange of experience and information with the police of the countries of the region.

The success of recent years has also been achieved thanks to the excellent cooperation with Italian partners.

This cooperation during this year was concretized with the renewal and signing of the Operational Protocol on February 18, 2021, between the General Directorate of the Albanian State Police and the Public Security Department of the Ministry of Interior in Italy. For the first time, by the Guardia di Finanza, the time period of aerial monitoring activity has been increased by 1 month by making a helicopter available.

Therefore, here I find the opportunity to stop and thank the Italian government, the Ministry of Interior and the Italian taxpayers who gave their contribution and assistance to the Albanian people and the State Police during all these years. I also thank the Department of Public Safety, the Interforce Mission, the Guardia di Finanza and all the Italian colleagues engaged in this common struggle.

In May 2021, the Guardia di Finanza began monitoring airline flights. 70 air missions with 182 flight hours were performed. In total for 2021, from aerial monitoring, 92,428 narcotic plants were identified and destroyed compared to 58,423 cannabis sativa narcotic plants identified and destroyed during 2020.

We have done uninterrupted work to crack down on this criminal activity through the development of operations for the destruction of narcotic plants and the performance of procedural actions to bring the perpetrators to justice. Performance indicators have been increasing compared to the same period last year.

More specifically, during this year:

- We have identified 848 criminal offenses for the cultivation of narcotic plants, of which 736 are cultivation cases and 112 proactive proceedings;

- 668 citizens were implicated in this criminal activity, out of which 400 were detained or arrested in flagrante delicto;

- 164,775 narcotic plants have been identified and destroyed, of which 20,997 per cubic meter.

In the same period of 2020:

- 577 criminal offenses were identified, of which 505 were cultivation cases and 109 proactive proceedings;

- 468 citizens were implicated in criminal activities, of which 284 were detained or arrested in flagrante delicto;

- 137,216 narcotic plants were identified and destroyed, of which 18,828 per cubic meter.

However, the work of the State Police against the cultivation of narcotic plants would be considered partially completed, if not paid attention to the crackdown on its trafficking and the identification and seizure of assets resulting from this criminal activity.

During the reference period based on the statistics of Italian colleagues, we have a decrease of trafficking towards them by 100%, from 911 kg in the same period last year, to zero this year.

An example of the determination of our work, to fulfill the obligations of the "Action Plan in the Fight against the Cultivation of Narcotic Plants", is the criminal proceedings of 165 local officials, administrators of administrative units, village mayors and forest service inspectors, etc., for acts criminal offenses "Abuse of duty" and "Failure to report a crime".

For 2022, the work has started today, for the identification of those who bring cannabis seeds in our country. We have the basis of the digital map, closed and open activities will be controlled", said Nano.