Albanian police removed more than 500 remote-controlled cameras allegedly installed by gangs to monitor citizens and police “in the wake of a scandal that highlights the power of criminal gangs in the small Balkan country,” says the Financial Times.

About half of the cameras were located in the country’s capital, Tirana, and were discovered as part of an investigation into an explosive device detonation near a policeman’s house in the northern Albanian city of Shkodër.

The activity and influence of the gangs has been cited as one of the main reasons why Albanians leave their homeland and immigrate to other states in Europe.

Police dismantled cameras mounted on electric poles in the street “to collect information for criminal purposes,” the Albanian police said in a statement Tuesday. “Cameras set up by individuals or criminal groups were also designed to gather information about police movements.”

According to a report by the Balkan Investigative Journalism Network, which cited local reports of “extortion, threats and fear” caused by gangs.

“They blame us for not taking action, and they also blame us when we do,” was Prime Minister Edi Rama’s first comment about the scandal. “The fact that the police took action on this issue, which has been a problem for decades, means that the government is determined to fight organized crime and is paying special attention to it,” Rama added, saying that not all cameras were connected to criminal networks. . and that “some of them were for personal use, albeit illegal.”

“Money laundering in Tirana”

Following the revelations, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Justice Aldo Bumchi stated that the criminal gangs have created a global drug trafficking network and are laundering money in Tirana.

Bumchi pointed out that Albanian drug cartels employ tens of thousands of families in the country to grow marijuana.“using money, connections and ties to Western Europe to run a global heroin and cocaine smuggling network.”

Rama disputed Bumchi’s comments, responding that cannabis cultivation has “drastically declined” in Albania and that “successful police operations in cooperation with international partners (…) are showing increasing effectiveness in combating international and domestic crime.”

Last year, the European Commission criticized EU candidate Albania for a proposed law providing for an amnesty for deposits of up to 2 million euros in Albanian banks. The bill provided that no fines would be imposed, and qualifying deposits would be taxed at a rate of up to 10%.

A US State Department report last year said Tirana should continue its efforts to reform the judiciary, tighten anti-money laundering regulations and curb the influence of organized crime.

“Violent crime in Albania is often linked to organized crime,” he said. “Judges, prosecutors, police and journalists were intimidated.”

Source: Financial Times.