The drugs had been intercepted in Macedonia: “They would have ended up in Italy” 38 kg of heroin headed for Durrës The cargo was worth 10 million marks EDMOND LAÇI TIRANA — Albania is at the crossroads of the international drug trade. After marijuana — cultivated in various Albanian towns but destined for Greece — a large quantity of heroin has been discovered, which had set off for Italy. Only this time, the traffickers’ arrest in Macedonia made it possible to prevent the cargo of 38 kilograms of heroin from completing the entire route: Turkey, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania and Italy. This route, described during a press conference in Skopje by the Macedonian Ministry of the Interior, would have ended in Albania at the Port of Durrës. The Albanian Police’s hypotheses that the country is now highly exposed to drug transit are thus becoming a reality. The discovery of the quantity of heroin that would also have passed through Albania was made last week near Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. According to sources in Skopje, two Macedonian citizens were arrested, in whose car 38 kilograms of packaged heroin had been hidden. The value of this quantity, calculated at wholesale prices, exceeds 10 million German marks. The Macedonian Police, which described its latest anti-drug operation as the most successful, also acknowledged that it had been informed in advance about the traffickers’ passage. Immediately after the arrest of the two drivers of the minibus transporting the heroin, the Macedonian authorities also arrested four other people, whose names have not yet been made public. According to the Commander of the Police Station that stopped the traffickers, their vehicle had been coated with a special kind of lacquer so that it could evade the noses of anti-drug dogs. “The problem is how capable we will be of preventing the transit of drugs into Albania,” Leonidha Mërtiri, Albania’s Consul in Skopje, told the newspaper. “The danger, especially after this incident, remains ever-present.” According to Mërtiri, the most exposed point to this phenomenon is the Qafë-Thanë border crossing, where traffic is extremely heavy. But the Albanian-Macedonian border has whetted the appetite of drug traffickers, especially after the closure of the border with Serbia. Perhaps this is why, week after week, cases of drug use among young Macedonians are being reported. The alarm now concerns Albania, whose advantageous geographical position cannot help but excite the traffickers of white poison. The phenomenon of drugs in Albania — following use and cultivation — is now compounded by transit and large-scale international trafficking. The border between Albania and Macedonia

in general independence, a crane with several workers moved and remains from the pedestal on which the giant bronze statue of Enver Hoxha stood. Only a small group, with their backs turned, stops to watch, while all around life continues with absolute normality. Only 31 months have passed, and yet it seems like a century. TIRANA — Here are two images capturing the latest moments in Albanian history. February 22, 1991: students pour into the square and protest against Communist oppression; police officers stand by to protect the regime’s symbol, while, amid general indifference, a crane with several workers moves what remains of the pedestal on which the giant bronze statue of Enver Hoxha stood. Only a small group with k…

70 MORE PROPERTIES UP FOR AUCTION IN BURREL — An important step by the branch of the Privatization Agency in the Mat district. It has just announced the auction of 70 different properties to be privatized. Documentation has been completed on the value of the properties, machinery and equipment, as well as the land and plots. The auction will take place on October 27. These are warehouses, shops and production units located at various enterprises in the district. Among them are workers’ hotels in the district, which are going up for auction for the second time, with a starting price of 5 million lekë. DISTRUST OF SOCIAL INSURANCE IN BERAT — Employees are evading the Social Insurance Law and failing to meet their obligations. This is the conclusion drawn from an examination of the figures on this issue. Despite the work carried out by the Social Insurance Branch in Berat to promote the contents of the law that protects employees’ interests, only 500 of the 25,000 active workers employed in the countryside pay social insurance contributions. Likewise, only 1,300 employees in the private sector regularly pay their insurance contributions. MASS FORGERY OF SCHOOL CERTIFICATES IN SHKODËR — The forgeries were identified by the Public Order Branch of the Shkodër district. Seventy certificates belonging to secondary schools have been forged. It is suspected that they were used by certain individuals to secure new jobs in the state administration during the Reform. There is not yet any evidence proving the possible involvement of teachers or school principals in these forgeries. It is thought that they were carried out during the closures of some schools over the past 2–3 years.

DURRËS — Changes in…

Concern among employees ANDREA STEFANI TIRANA — Concern among Financial Police employees following Parliament’s approval of the Law on “Ranks in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Albania.” The reaction arose from the clear fact that, unlike until now, the Financial Police is not mentioned in the Law among the bodies entitled to benefit from the new rank system. It is not even three months since military ranks were introduced in this body; uniforms from Italy had even been promised, and suddenly everything is turned upside down. The Financial Police risks being left without ranks. Specialists in this body see this demotion as highly damaging. “At the present time,” they told the newspaper, “military authority is absolutely necessary in the fight against speculation and smuggling. It was Prime Minister Meksi himself who, in the annual review of this body, stressed the need to resolve the issue of uniforms, ranks and weapons for this type of police.” Otherwise, with such a measure, the Financial Police would be placed on a par with the Forestry Inspectorate, the Tax Inspectorate or Customs, losing some of its powers of self-protection. “We have prepared a draft law on the Status of the Financial Police,” the specialists add, “and we do not understand how decisions on this issue can be made without also seeking our opinion.” “I do not think President Berisha will approve such a thing,” the Director General of the Financial Police told the newspaper. “Removing military status would, in addition to other harmful consequences, cause employees to leave this body, because 20–30 percent of their income derives from this hardship status.”

DURRËS — Changes in the command of the “Pellicano” contingent: tomorrow, Brigadier General Antonio Tobaldo will be replaced by Brigadier General Vito Carlucci. A senior representative of the General Staff of the Italian Army and numerous Italian and Albanian authorities will attend the handover ceremony, which will be held at the former “Qemal Stafa” children’s camp in Durrës. Two years after the arrival of Italian soldiers in Albania, the future of the mission remains unclear. Its initial function — escorting and distributing thousands and thousands of tonnes of food aid throughout the country — has now been completed. The role of “Pellicano” (whose contingent has been substantially reduced over these two years, both in personnel and equipment) may be modified into a military assistance activity to be provided to the Albanian Army.

“It was just a gift from the Chinese” TIRANA — (p. re.) It is the story of a plane that for a long time was on display inside the walls of the medieval castle of Gjirokastër. An American fighter plane shown to Albanian and foreign visitors as a symbol of Albania’s supposedly inviolable airspace. “This is the inglorious end of American imperialism”—that was the slogan repeated whenever tourist groups visited the historic center. Now the plane too—the symbol of a period that has just passed, of the Cold War—has become a subject of discussion. Like many things from the past, its story has also become dubious. Is it true that the American plane (flying a secret mission over Albania) was later forced to land by the Albanian armed forces? Many hypotheses have been put forward in response to this question, some of them among the most unbelievable. Since there are two theories, at least they have some credible elements. One of them, defended by several experienced aviators, accepts half of the official’s version. According to the aviators, the aircraft did land on Albanian territory, but it was not forced down by the Albanian army. It was only a fault in the control equipment that forced the American pilot to make an emergency landing. “Where am I?” was the question asked by the confused American officer. Another hypothesis, often heard in Gjirokastër, takes the plane’s origins much farther afield, to the Far East. According to it, the pilot had flown a mission in Korea; the Chinese captured the plane and then “donated” it to their Albanian Marxist friends. It is an old event with three versions. Which one is true? That, undoubtedly, will not be worked out and uncovered until many more enigmas from the last 50 years have been solved. Gjirokastër Castle

A sister “donates” a kidney to her brother A delicate operation in Bari ON PAGE 2 Albanians smoke a lot Every year men consume around 2,717 million cigarettes ON PAGE 3 Mehmet Berballa