143 kg of cocaine found in a container at the Port of Durrës

A significant amount of cocaine, 143 kilograms, was found today in a container at the Port of Durrës. According to the State Police, "during the detailed control exercised in a container loaded with bananas, which had departed from the port of Guayaquil in Ecuador and had passed transit to the port "Gioia Tauro" in Italy, destined for Albania, on behalf of a firm based in Tirana [...] police and customs services found hidden in the ceiling of the container, packages filled with narcotics suspected to be cocaine, weighing a total of 143 kilograms." The administrators of the company that was in charge of the container, the citizens K.X, 30 years old and E.P, 42 years old, were arrested by the police in fragrance in Tirana.

For the moment the investigations are being led by prosecutors from the Durrës Judicial District Prosecutor's Office and SPAK prosecutors. The news of the 143-kg cocaine seized at the Port of Durrës comes only one week after 49 kilograms of cocaine were seized in another container coming from Ecuador. On that occasion, the narcotics were found hidden in a banana container, coming from Ecuador through a route involving a stop in Turkey.

At the beginning of March the United States Department of State published a report 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,” adding also that “drug trafficking organizations led by or principally consisting of Albanian nationals are active internationally, and their illicit profits are laundered in Albania.