Police officer shot dead at cannabis roadblock in Lezha
Deputy Commissar Saimir Hoxha was shot dead at a police roadblock in the Vain area of Lezha on 28 September 2021 while his unit checked a suspected cannabis cultivation route. The suspected gunman, 21-year-old Aldi Rama, fled and shot himself during the manhunt that followed.
Deputy Commissar Saimir Hoxha of the Lezha police was shot dead at a roadblock
in the Vain area on 28 September 2021 while his unit was checking a suspected
marijuana route.[1]Officers had signalled a suspect vehicle to stop when a
man inside opened fire, wounding Hoxha, who died on the way to the hospital.[1]Police named the suspected gunman as 21-year-old Aldi Rama, previously
convicted of narcotics and weapons offences.[1]
Hoxha, 44, was killed by a bullet to the heart while conducting checks on
cannabis cultivated by criminal groups in Lezha.[2]Rama carried earlier
convictions for narcotics cultivation and illegal possession of weapons.[2]After the shooting, numerous police units including special forces and a
helicopter were deployed to find the gunman.[1]Officers surrounded Rama in
the Lezha area, where he shot himself and was taken to hospital in critical
condition.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Police in Laç arrested two men accused of selling drug doses mainly near schools, seizing 126 suspected doses. Of the total, 113 doses were suspected cannabis and 13 were suspected cocaine, alongside ammunition and mobile phones.
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.
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.
