Officer shot dead in a cannabis-village crackdown in Lazarat
Gunmen in Lazarat killed RENEA special-forces officer Ibrahim Basha, 31, and wounded two colleagues on 24 June 2015 when police stopped an arms-laden car at a checkpoint and came under fire from a nearby house. About 400 officers then besieged the cannabis-growing village, detaining 14 suspects and later arresting eight more.
Gunmen in Lazarat, the southern Albanian village known as a major illegal marijuana producer, shot dead RENEA special-forces officer Ibrahim Basha, 31, and wounded two colleagues on the morning of 24 June 2015.[1][2]Basha, an Albanian armed-forces veteran who had served with the NATO mission in Afghanistan, was shot in the head and died on the way to the regional hospital.[1]
Checkpoint ambush
RENEA officers backing an operation against overnight shooting at police stopped a car carrying weapons at a village checkpoint around 9 a.m., seizing two rifles and an automatic rifle and arresting the driver.[1][2]Gunmen in a nearby house then opened fire on the officers.[1][2]The two wounded officers were flown by helicopter to Tirana for treatment.[1]
Siege and arrests
About 400 officers besieged the 5,000-resident village, controlling everyone entering or leaving, and raided homes to detain 14 suspected gang members.[2]Police published a list of 21 wanted persons, and days later reported eight more arrests including brothers Arban and Arbion Aliko.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Albanian police arrested, detained or prosecuted 165 people over cannabis cultivation in 2026 and destroyed 171,566 plants in 593 cases, plus 132,000 seedlings before planting. Presenting the 2026 campaign results with Italy's Guardia di Finanza on 10 November, authorities also reported 17 indoor cases and 89 officials prosecuted for abuse of office.
A 51-year-old Greek man was arrested in Tirana after police found 24.5 kilograms of cannabis in a suitcase on an Athens–Rinas flight and he left the airport before officers identified him. Police caught him on Rruga e Durrësit and held him on suspicion of drug trafficking.
Tirana police arrested four people and opened criminal proceedings against seven more over violence at the student protest of 7 November 2026, and said one of the four was carrying a quantity of suspected cannabis when searched. Authorities also issued 12 administrative penalties, including a 500,000 lek fine on a masked protester who threw stones at police and the Prime Minister's Office.
Shkodër police arrested two brothers, 49 and 57, closing operation Polinomi 2 with the seizure of 10 kg of cannabis in one home in Abat and about 66.8 kg with a pistol and ammunition in the other in Grudë e Re. The 57-year-old's 24-year-old son was declared wanted, and the case file went to the Shkodër prosecutor's office.
