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The fake visas signed by the Italian diplomat cost between 1,000 and 1,500 dollars P. 2 The diplomatic network that forged visas in Albania for travel abroad has been uncovered. As a result, several diplomats at the Italian Embassy in Tirana were declared yesterday to be implicated as members of a criminal organization. The news was reported by the Italian Prosecutor’s Office and corroborated by sources from the ANSA news agency. It is the first time in the history of world diplomacy that diplomats themselves have been part of a criminal organization involved in the illegal trafficking of people across the border using false visas. The incident, which had occurred several months earlier, became the subject of an investigation by the Italian authorities, and after extensive evidence was gathered, the indictment [a?] was finalized yesterday, holding legally accountable the person in charge of issuing Italian visas at that country’s Embassy in Tirana. The Italian Prosecutor’s Office has named former Italian consul in Albania Adriano Monte as an accused party. He is accused of being the head of a criminal organization involved in forging visas for Albanian citizens. Two other Italian diplomats, as well as the Albanian staff working in the visa-issuing office at the Italian Embassy, were also implicated in this visa-trafficking network. P. 2

For a clearer idea of what this law represented, we consider it necessary to present the historical circumstances Albania experienced between the two world wars. During the First World War, Albanian capitalists and merchants, newly emerged, convinced that Austria-Hungary would win the war, and given that Austria-Hungary was the greatest European power that defended the... Albanians with justice, their faith in it grew even stronger; they converted all their liquid assets into Austro-Hungarian currency. But the opposite happened: Austria-Hungary lost the war, its banknotes depreciated, and as a result the Albanians’ losses were very great. This was a setback, but also a lesson for the new Albanian capitalists. In the period between the two wars, they no longer kept their capital in any banknotes, because they trusted none of them; instead, they converted their capital into goods and gold coins, whose value never fell. Also, the Second World War was a terrible devastation for the countries involved, including Albania; since its productive capacity was still very small, it was clear that after the war demand for goods would be very high. P. 7

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Former communists cannot [partially legible] sell themselves as nationalists P. 5 Terrorist Bin Laden is weakening P. 10 Alarming hemorrhage in the Education sector P. 19

Violence and politically threatening gestures in the former Yugoslavia are adding to concerns about a new conflict. KFOR peacekeeping troops in Kosovo have been involved in security measures along the border with Serbia, due to the unrest of recent days. As a result of the ever-increasing tensions between Serbia and the Republic of Montenegro, Z. K. on Friday called on both sides to exercise restraint and try to find a solution to the conflict. P. 4

DURRËS: Italian “Guardia di Finanza” forces seize the super-speedboat used for drug and migrant trafficking. Reliable sources close to the Italian mission said yesterday that a “Jonson”-type super-speedboat, 11 meters long and with 3 engines of 250 horsepower, was seized near the coast of Vlora. On board the speedboat were 35 Albanian migrants of various nationalities as well as 30 kilograms of marijuana. P. 6

The diplomatic network that forged visas in Albania for travel abroad has been uncovered.

K. CORRUPTION © M. BARA