They took 70 million lekë to get an arrested police officer released from his cell Yesterday, Dilaver Bengasi, a senior official in the Ministry of Public Order, and lawyer Idajet Beqiri, chairman of the Party of National Unity, were charged page 5

Someone went to court and reported his neighbor[?] for theft. “He called me Hippopotamus three years ago,” he complained to the judge. “But why are you reporting him now?” the judge asked him.

Someone went to court and reported his neighbor[?] for insulting him. “He called me Hippopotamus three years ago,” he complained to the judge. “But why are you reporting him now?” the judge asked him. “Well, I only found out now what Hippopotamus means,” said the complainant. court and reported his neighbor[?] for insulting him. judge asked him. “Well, I only found out now what Hippopotamus means,” said the complainant. This is also the story of the report the Ministry of Public Order made about the Treasury theft, three years after the day on which it claims the robbery of the century took place. But, as if the delayed memory were not enough, those who should answer for it have now washed their hands of it. Yesterday, almost simultaneously, the two highest officials who, by law, are responsible for the state Treasury and its safekeeping absolved themselves of all responsibility for the theft, each trying to shift the blame onto the other. Thus, while the Governor of the Bank of Albania was exonerating himself by attributing everything—even the carrying out of periodic inventories—to the Minister of Public Order, the latter yesterday blamed his predecessors from the “Alliance for the State,” who, “when they came to power, took over the Treasury without an inventory.” However, Mr. Poçi himself acted in the same way regarding the inventory, since, upon discovering that it had been tampered with, he would have sounded the alarm as soon as he took his seat as Minister of Public Order. On the basis of this fact, the real thieves of the Treasury must be held criminally liable; once the mystery surrounding this robbery is finally cleared up, whether Poçi or Cani, they may perhaps emerge “in the clear.” Yet both of them will find it difficult, if not impossible, to evade their civic responsibility, and even more so their political responsibility. The fact that the opposition sounded the alarm over this theft months ago, and the developments that have followed since then, culminating in yesterday’s statements by Minister Poçi and Governor Cani, lead to the conclusion that the ball is now in the court of the governing coalition, first and foremost the PS, whose forums include the two officials in question. Once, during the period when the pyramid-scheme crisis erupted, one of the PD officials of that time stated that “until everything about the pyramid schemes is brought to light, all responsibility lies with the PD—as the party in power.” The same can be said in this case. Regardless of when and by whom the state Treasury was stolen, as long as the relevant authorities fail to dispel the fog of mystery, all responsibility rests with the PS. In these circumstances, and considering the general inability of the Prosecution and the Justice system to shed light on important cases connected with politics—from 2 April 1991 through to the murder of Azem Hajdari—the PS has more interest than anyone in bringing the truth to light, even if the blame turns out to lie on its side.

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Eight people arrested. The drugs were destined for Italy page 12 Durrës: ship carrying heroin seized 20 kg of pure drugs seized at the port