The Krraba villagers who sold their silence for money for three years tell their story: Our truth about the treasury The gold was stolen in March ’97 • The policeman guarding the tunnel discovered the gold pit • After him, former shepherd Dalti went in ... • One night after the treasury robbery, the theft was “covered up” with an official theft—the gold pit was mined • The person who mined the gold pit stole most of the treasure • A boy from the Hyka family was injured while trying to get in REPORTAGE BY RUDINA XHUNGA FROM THE KRRABA TUNNEL - PAGE 2

special Ceka: Berisha’s uproar is aimed at concealing the responsibilities that fall on him Legisi: Through his tools in the ministry, Berisha fabricated documents that conceal the theft Bare: I found no documents of any kind from my predecessor in my safe PAGE 4

Investigation: The victim knew the robbers’ brutality and was blindly convinced of them. The murder is suspected of not having been carried out by Albanians PAGE 10

169 were rifles and 96 were automatic weapons PAGE 10

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In the photo: Yesterday at Harvard, Prime Minister Meta and Socialist Party leader Nano

On the eve of former President Berisha’s visit to Vlora • Gjinushi: Berisha robbed and killed Vlora • Brokaj: Berisha in Vlora with the aim of destabilizing it • Gjalllica: 70 thousand dollars to the PD for just one mining SPECIAL FEATURE ON PAGES 7, 10

Theologians are alarmed; they immediately begin commenting on the Bible and the Quran • “THE TEACHING ON MURDER: You know that our ancestors were told: Do not murder. Whoever murders will be brought to trial. But I tell you: even anyone who becomes angry with his fellow believers must be brought to trial.” • “Those who have no love get stuck on the paths of selfishness and are incapable of loving anyone else; they die without knowing true love, which is at the very heart of existence.” PAGE 5

ISSUE OF THE DAY The patient appeared once again in front of the “TV Shijak” cameras, ill, while other media outlets were reporting the statement of one of the robbers that he had entered the tunnel on 13–14 March 1997. The patient stubbornly insisted, like a donkey, that the theft had happened much later. The patient’s avalanche of words had been launched against the PS and, as always, he was the first to come rushing out! Since specialists in nerves said the patient was seriously ill, he should have watched some James Bond film beforehand, with papers waving in the air, when he said he had recorded the words spoken by prosecutors in the Krraba tunnel in January 1997. He also showed symptoms of the seriousness of his mental illness in Korçë, where he said he had borrowed the TNT from the Bible and the Quran. The most prominent theologians were shocked, since they had never come across anyone, not even an idiot, who interpreted religious books so perversely. They were afraid the patient might be anathematized for this sin, like Salman Rushdie for “The Satanic Verses,” but that is a bit of an exaggeration. The patient has committed even greater sins, such as the destruction of Albania, and nothing has happened to him. Apparently, it is true that God doesn’t deal with fools! The heat, some barking accidentally imbibed somewhere around Innsbruck, Austria, and the Meta Government’s blunders are thought to worsen the patient’s health further. It is expected that very soon the patient will call the discovery of the treasure a “deception” by the Government. Although the peasant thieves say they have no connection either to the PD or the PS, the patient will stubbornly insist, like a donkey, that Nano, Papandreu and Venizelasi stole the treasure. PNUD will also be involved in this whole theft! Since the patient refuses to take either medicine or chamomile tea, and accepts only Albanian-ness as a remedy, the Government may declare the patient a “free zone,” with all the exemptions provided by law—just so the patient does not declare himself “Albanian.” This is to preserve what little dignity we have left. The Korçars, known for their humor, said the patient was joking when he was asked about the TNT. He would not give the TNT to his father-in-law, or to Prele Martinit, or to Rustem Gjatës. Nevertheless, the Xhehajners, Albanians and foreigners are keeping the patient under constant surveillance. Knowing he doesn’t know how to use TNT, they fear that a horse might explode in the patient’s house.

Here are the people who robbed and abandoned the State Treasury in ’97?

• May–July: $8.6 million worth of infrastructure equipment arrives 9 • The Bank of Albania will not intervene in the lek exchange rate 8