The fight against the cultivation of narcotic plants / Director Nano: We have a 100% decrease in trafficking towards them, confirmed by Italian partners

In this Joint Conference were presented the results achieved, not only in the framework of aerial monitoring, but the results achieved in general, for the crackdown and prevention of cultivation of narcotic plants.

In his speech, as he made the balance of 2021 and compared it with the same period of 2020, director Nano said that we have a decrease in trafficking towards them by 100% and this fact is confirmed by the Italian partners.

Director Nano’s full speech:

It is already a tradition to organize a joint conference with Italian colleagues and partners, to identify and reflect the joint results and achievements for the prevention and fight against criminal activity of cultivation of narcotics for 2021.

The State Police was maximally engaged in fulfilling the priorities and measures set out in the strategic documents, in particular the Strategy Against Organized Crime and Serious Crimes 2021-2025 and the Action Plan in its implementation.

Based on these strategic documents, as well as the analysis of problems identified during 2020, but also in previous years, the General Directorate of State Police drafted and implemented the Action Plan “For the prevention and fight against criminal activity of narcotics cultivation” for the year 2021 ”.

This plan was accompanied by the drafting of action plans, monitoring plans, operations plans, at central and local level. The main priority was the joint inter-institutional action and international cooperation to achieve sustainable results in terms of preventing the cultivation of narcotics, identifying, detecting and cracking down on active criminal groups and networks in the field of cannabis cultivation and trafficking, as well as of their perpetrators before legal liability.

The action plan focused on the following main directions:

– Awareness of the communities involved;

– Uninterrupted control of the territory, aiming at prevention and attack from the first stage of cultivation;

– Intensification of information-investigative and investigative activity for the detection and crackdown on criminal activity of trade in narcotic plant seeds and organizers of cultivation and trafficking of the narcotic substance cannabis sativa;

– Increasing cooperation with the local government, the Ministry of Defense and all other actors involved in the Action Plan, as well as increasing international cooperation, mainly with Italian partners;

– Identifying and punishing employees of the administration and those in the ranks of the Police, who neglect or cooperate in various forms in the cultivation of narcotic plants.

We paid special attention to the wide involvement of the public in the information process, through awareness raising and the creation of practical opportunities for the provision of information by citizens.

From this point of view, awareness meetings, conferences, press releases, etc. have been organized. Educational institutions have made the greatest contribution to raising community awareness. The Central and Local Task Forces were established and operated periodically. All state institutions, local government administrators, private businesses, firefighters, Municipal Police or Private Physical Security Service took their responsibility.

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 more seeds 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 surveillance 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 arising 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.

Dear participants,

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”.

The seriousness of the analysis and assessment of the situation, finding effective ways of cooperation with all factors and actors, close cooperation with international partners and especially with the Italian ones, have contributed to increasing the indicators of police work and achieving sustainable results in the fight against the cultivation and trafficking of the narcotic plant cannabis sativa.

Currently we have focused our work mainly on the fight against the cultivation of narcotic plants indoors, as well as trafficking in these plants.

For 2022, the work of the State Police has started today and will focus on:

– Gathering information on individuals or criminal groups that import seeds of the narcotic plant cannabis sativa, in order to initiate proactive investigations and crack down on this criminal activity from the initial stage;

– On the basis of digital map and risk analysis, periodic checks will be exercised both in open and closed environments, in order to crack down on this criminal activity;

– Further strengthening of inter-institutional and international cooperation;

– Given the increase in cases of cultivation indoors, special attention will be paid to obtaining, verifying and prosecuting police information, for individuals or criminal groups involved in this criminal activity.

With the measures we have taken and are implementing, as well as evaluating the indicators achieved, I express the conviction of the organization I lead, that in the future we will consolidate and deepen the results against the cultivation and trafficking of cannabis.

I want to guarantee all citizens and foreign partners, that the State Police, in cooperation with law enforcement agencies is maximally motivated and committed to advance this fight with new energies.

The battle becomes even stronger because it targets criminal groups implicated in the cultivation or trafficking of cannabis as well as drugs as a whole, but we are motivated to win it.