They obtain forged documents in Albania A new wave of clandestine arrivals. 100 Asians detained in Vlora and Durrës in three days TIRANA - Kurdish clandestine migrants are rediscovering Albania. More than 100 Kurds have been caught by the Albanian police over the past three days, having just landed on the Albanian coast. On Sunday evening, more than 40 clandestine migrants who had come from Turkey and landed in speedboats were detained in Durrës and Vlora. Yesterday they were transported by bus to Tirana, where they were accommodated at Police Station No. 2 and are being questioned. The police have also begun an investigation, as it is suspected that an Albanian group is organizing not only the trafficking of foreigners to the Western coasts, but also supplying them with forged documents. For this reason, the Kurds have preferred to land first in Albania and, once provided with forged documents, set off for Italy. On page 9 The clandestine migrants came from Turkey and were caught as soon as they landed on the coasts of Durrës and Vlora In Albania, someone provides them with forged documents that they use in Western countries, mainly in Italy

BERAT - A sordid racket involving clandestine migrants. The victims have reported that a Greek-Albanian gang robbed them of a quantity of blood at gunpoint. The “modern vampires,” armed with needles and plastic bags, traded this precious “commodity” in hospitals across the border, stopping at no human shame. “They put us in a cave and took 300 grams of blood from each of us.” This is how an Albanian clandestine migrant begins his account of an ordeal he went through with his companions at the hands of two gangs of robbers. The first had taken their money and parts of their bodies; the gangs are suspected of having forced them to “donate” blood for several patients admitted to a hospital. Their painful ordeal ended when they were caught by the Greek police, who sent them back to the border. “There were seven of them, three armed with automatic rifles and wearing Greek military uniforms, and the others spoke Albanian like members of the Greek minority. They stopped us after we had walked for three di- [text continues beyond the frame] visions, a harsh climb. We pointed our weapons at them and told them they had to give blood for some Albanians in need who had been admitted to the hospital in Kallabak. We could not refuse. They put us in a cave—the marks in the stone showed that others had been there before us—and began opening our veins. Using a plastic tube and bags, they took 300 grams of blood from each of us. Then they kept it in a large thermos. Just a few hours later the police caught us and took us back to Kakavijë,” says Agim Luzi from Lumasi in Berat, who had crossed the border in search of a better life but fell into the hands of the modern “vampires.” Among them were Albanians who sought to make money from the misfortune—or, rather, the lives—of their fellow countrymen. The five young men from Berat who were forced to serve as “guinea pigs” are still traumatized. They feel abandoned and powerless in their misery.

Kurdish clandestine migrants detained in Albania

On page 3

TIRANA—Two teenagers have been detained by police after threatening to bomb a girl’s father unless he gave them his daughter in marriage. “Either give us your daughter, or I’ll blow your house up”—after this, the 17-year-old had [text continues outside the frame] two 17-year-olds ended up in handcuffs, accused of making threats. In fact, the story that led the two teenagers to “take” this extreme measure had begun as a love story. One of them had fallen in love with a girl, a high-school student and his contemporary. The love between the two teenagers had advanced so far that they had both decided to seal it with marriage. It is a decision anyone would think over a great deal before making, but for the two teenagers it had not been difficult to reach. “We’re getting married”—that was all they had decided. The girl had gone to the boy’s house. But her father had not given his approval, bearing in mind the couple’s age, and so two weeks after their “marriage,” while his daughter had gone to school as usual, he had taken her back home. This led the groom, together with a friend of his, to threaten his father-in-law; after that, they ended up at the police station.

Sport Sport

One million L&M cigarettes brought in by sea. Two trucks also seized From Tirana to Fier, special forces led the operation Member of the bank robbery gang Another arrest in connection with “Hakmarrja” [partly cut off at the bottom of the image]

Member of the bank robbery gang with “Hakmarrja” A man from Vlora was arrested on Sunday because, according to the investigation, he was a member of the gang that robbed the Bank of Vlora On page 9

During October, the price index reached 15.3 percent TIRANA—Inflation in the Albanian consumer-goods markets rose by 1.6 percent during October compared with September. Meanwhile, compared with the end of 1995, it climbed to 15.3 percent. This is what emerges from an examination of the Consumer Price Index figures published yesterday by the Institute of Statistics. “The Consumer Price Index (CPI),” the Institute of Statistics’ announcement states, “reached 141.53 percent in October 1996, compared with December 1993, recording an increase of 1.6 percent over the previous month.” The same official document notes that, compared with December 1995, the CPI rose by 15.3 percent, while compared with the same period of the previous year, the CPI rose by 18.8 percent. The 1.6 percent rise in the Consumer Price Index in October was mainly the result of a 1.7 percent increase in the price index for the “food, beverages and tobacco” group, as well as a 2 percent increase in the “rent, water, fuel and energy” group. Within the “food, beverages and tobacco” group, the most notable price increases were for milk, up 4.9 percent; cheese, up 6.3 percent; cottage cheese, up 7.9 percent; and eggs, up 5.9 percent. Other products, such as chicken and fish, fats, and vegetables, also ended October at higher prices. However, some products, such as coffee and vegetables, saw their prices fall during October.

TIRANA—The tragedy of April 2 has become an annual commemorative event. Five years later, its mysteries have been explored and examined, and described by one of the people most familiar with it, lawyer Nafiz Bezhani. TIRANA—The tragedy of April 2 has become an annual commemorative event. Five years later, its mysteries have been explored and examined, and described by one of the people most familiar with it, lawyer Nafiz Bezhani, who has only in recent days published a book entitled “The Trial of the Century.” Bezhani, who was the defense lawyer for the families of the victims, Broci, Bishanaku, Kryeziu and Ceka, puts forward a series of new hypotheses and facts. “We cannot rule out the role of some foreign political power that wanted to destabilize the state, or had chauvinistic aims,” he writes, recalling on this occasion: “Who had an interest in the slogan ‘Shkodër Republic’?” The book is the most comprehensive one written about this event. Shkodër, April 2, 1991 (photo: Paulin Palushi) On page 11

FSHF Secretary Eduard Dervishi

KORÇË Young thief escapes from cell On page 9 TIRANA Opposition: The defeat? Europe is to blame too On page 3