In the report on serious and organized crime threat assessment for 2021, published by the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (EUROPOL), Albania is still considered to be a “major source of herbal cannabis trafficked into the EU”. This report comes only one month after the report of the United States Department of State on International Narcotics Control, where it stated that “Albania is a source country of cannabis and a home base for organized crime groups moving narcotics from source countries into European markets”.

“Criminal networks engaged in cannabis trafficking are highly organized. They are typically hierarchically structured with roles and levels well-defined around the leadership, or relatively tightly organized but unstructured, and surrounded by a network of individuals engaged in criminal activities. A large share of the cases reported to Europol featuring fatal and serious violence are related to drugs, in particular the trade in cannabis,” said the report.

The Balkans overall remains a region quite problematic for the heroin trafficked in the EU. “The Balkan routes remain the main entry routes for heroin trafficked to the EU. For the most part, heroin is trafficked along these routes in lorries hidden among legal freight and cover loads or in concealed compartments,” according to the findings.