About 800 Albanian officers took Lazarat, a southern village believed to be Europe’s biggest illegal marijuana producer, under their control in a five-day operation that met gunfire from heavily armed locals.[1] Police moved into the village on 16 June after a confrontation in which growers defended their fields with mortars, grenades and machine guns.[1][2]
What was seized and destroyed
The authorities said they destroyed more than 25 tonnes of marijuana, more than 90,000 cannabis plants and four drug-processing laboratories.[1] Dozens of automatic weapons and a large quantity of ammunition were seized, and police said at least six people were arrested.[1] Many gang leaders escaped during the night, Reuters reported.[1]
Prime Minister Edi Rama praised the operation, saying the police had destroyed the twenty-year taboo of a crime zone that had declared itself a separate republic.[1] The village, about 230 kilometres south of Tirana, was estimated to produce 900 tonnes of cannabis a year worth 4.5 billion euros, almost half of Albania’s gross domestic product.[1] Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri congratulated the officers in the village.[1]
