Greek passenger held in Tirana with 24.5 kg of cannabis from Athens flight
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.
🇦🇱 Rinas airport and Rruga e Durrësit, Tirana · Albania
Police in Tirana arrested a 51-year-old Greek man, a passenger on an
Athens–Rinas flight, on suspicion of smuggling narcotics into Albania through
Rinas airport.[1]The arrest came in a police operation codenamed Fly, run by
narcotics investigators with the Rinas police commissariat and customs
authorities, who searched the luggage of passengers on the Athens–Rinas route.[1]In one suitcase officers found two packages of plant material suspected to
be the narcotic Cannabis sativa.[1]Both Albanian-language accounts put the
cannabis at 24.5 kilograms.[2]
The suitcase’s suspected owner, identified by police as a 51-year-old Greek
citizen with the initials M. P., had left the airport immediately after landing.[1]Officers located and arrested him on the street in Durrës — Rruga e
Durrësit, a main street in Tirana — where they took him in flagrante delicto for
drug trafficking.[1]Shqiptarja.com names the man as Michail Prokovas, the
passenger on the Athens–Rinas flight, and says he was arrested on Rruga e
Durrësit.[3]TPZ and Shqiptarja.com attribute the police statement to the
director of Tirana police, Oliger Torba.[2]
The suspected cannabis was seized as material evidence, and police said
investigative actions were continuing to document the case.[1]
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
1
Cannabis
24.5 kg
Agency
Albanian State Police (Policia e Shtetit)
Agency type
Police, Customs
Cannabis
Herbal cannabis (24.5 kg)
Activity
Smuggling
Setting
Airport, Street or public place
Charge
Trafikimi i narkotikëve (drug trafficking)
Case stage
Under investigation
Force
No force reported
Region
Tirana
Route
Greece → Albania
Sources
Balkanwebbalkanweb.comWith cannabis in his suitcase in Rinas, the 51-year-old Greek escapes as soon as he touches Albanian soil, is arrested on Durrës Street
TPZ.altpz.alSQVIDEO/ Nga Athina në Rinas me 24.5 kilogramë kanabis në valixhe, arrestohet 51-vjeçari grek
Shqiptarja.comshqiptarja.comSQTiranë/ Nga Athina në Rinas me 24.5 kilogramë kanabis në valixhe, arrestohet 51-vjeçari grek (EMRI+VIDEO)
Open questions the AI reported
The reports give no separate day for the luggage search or the arrest; 9 November 2026 is the publication date of all three accounts and is used as the incident date.
Balkanweb gives no weight for the cannabis; the 24.5 kilograms is reported by TPZ and Shqiptarja.com.
The material was described as suspected Cannabis sativa; no laboratory confirmation was reported.
TPZ states that cannabis was found in his suitcases in the plural, while the police statement quoted by all three outlets says one suitcase contained two packages.
No charge sheet, custody ruling or court outcome was reported; police said investigative actions were continuing.
All three accounts reproduce the same State Police statement, so they are not independent reporting; the police's own page for this operation could not be opened.
No value was published for the seized cannabis.
Balkanweb's English wording places the arrest "on the street in Durrës", while the Albanian police statement and Shqiptarja name it as Rruga e Durrësit, a street in Tirana, and the report follows the Albanian wording.
The TPZ page image is a generic drug-enforcement photograph, not confirmed to show this seizure, so no photo is listed; the video embedded there comes from the State Police's Facebook page.
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.
Fier police arrested four men accused of distributing drugs near schools in the Fier district, seizing 2.9 kg of suspected cannabis, scales and phones. A fifth suspect was still wanted under a court-ordered prison-arrest measure after the Clean School operation.
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.
