21-year-old held at Tirana airport with 26.7 kg cannabis from Dubai
Albanian police arrested a 21-year-old resident of Luxembourg at Rinas airport on 10 November 2024 after finding 48 parcels holding 26.7 kg of marijuana in his suitcase from Dubai. He told investigators a man in Thailand had asked him to carry the suitcase and that he thought it held clothes.
🇦🇱 Rinas Airport, Tirana · Albania
Arrested
1
Cannabis
26.7 kg
Brice T., 21, who lives in Luxembourg, flew from Dubai to Tirana with a large
blue suitcase and was arrested at the Albanian capital’s airport on 10 November
2024, a Sunday, after security forces opened his luggage.[1]Inside they found
48 parcels of marijuana weighing 26.7 kg in total.[1]The Albanian State
Police said it detained a 21-year-old resident of Luxembourg, identified as B.
T., and seized26 kilograms and 700 grams of suspected cannabis from his
luggage.[2]Police said the seizure was 26 kilograms and 700 grams of
suspected cannabis held as material evidence.[2]
The State Police said its Rinas police station, Rinas customs authorities and
the Tirana regional narcotics investigation section carried out the operation.[2]Police said the check was planned after intelligence that a traveller from
Dubai to Rinas had hidden cannabis in his luggage.[2]The State Police said
work continued to identify and catch other people implicated, and sent the case
file to the Tirana prosecutor’s office.[2]According to the police, the
21-year-old was travelling from Dubai to Tirana with a suitcase holding 26.7 kg
of cannabis and was arrested after the plane landed.[3]
Brice T. told investigators he had travelled via Thailand to Dubai and then
Albania, and that a man in Thailand asked him to carry the suitcase to Tirana.[1]He said he assumed the suitcase contained only clothes.[1]According to
his account, someone was to meet him at Rinas airport to take possession of the
suitcase.[1]Virgule carried the article from Luxemburger Wort, which
published it the day after the police announcement.[1]
Photos and video
Screenshot of the video Albanian drug officers published of the arrest at Rinas airport. Photo: screen capture Source: VirguleThe marijuana found in the traveller's suitcase, packed in 48 parcels. Photo: screen capture Source: VirguleA second screen capture from the police video of the Rinas seizure. Photo: screen capture Source: Virgule
The State Police statement, dated 11 November 2024, does not name the day of the arrest; 10 November, the Sunday given by Virgule, is the only date reported for it.
The Virgule headline gives 27 kilos, while its text, the State Police and RTL Today put the load at 26.7 kg.
No court date, charge or outcome in the Albanian proceedings is reported.
The 48 parcels were described as marijuana, not laboratory-tested cannabis; the sources give no THC content.
No estimated market value of the load is published.
Virgule attributes Brice T.'s account of the Thailand leg and the meeting at Rinas to what he told investigators, and no other opened source reports those details.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Policia e Shtetit (Albanian State Police): The operation was codenamed “Fluturimi”, Albanian for flight.
Vau i Dejës police detained a 57-year-old Shkodra man as a suspected accomplice in growing 78 cannabis plants and producing 24.24 kg of cannabis found in Vila village. The Operation Vila case was sent to the Shkodra prosecution while inquiries continue for others involved.
Tirana police arrested two residents aged 36 and 50 in Operation Variety on suspicion of selling cocaine and cannabis. Officers seized suspected drug quantities and doses, an imitation pistol with metal bullets, two vehicles and mobile phones.
Lezha police arrested 18-year-old Klevis Paplekaj on suspicion of selling cannabis doses mainly near schools, seizing 83 doses and a mobile phone. The Operation Impulse case under the Clean Schools plan was referred to the Lezha prosecution for further action.
Albanian police said 31-year-old Megiljan Deda was arrested in Montenegro and extradited to Albania on 19 December 2025 to face a Lezha cultivation charge from the April Operation Vacuum. That operation uncovered 1,640 cannabis plants in two villages and seized about 34 kg of cannabis in Balldre.
