Five police officers in Shkodër were suspended from duty after a court decision, which assigned them the security measure “Suspension from exercising a duty or public service” for the criminal offense of abuse of duty.
It is suspected that in 2021 they gave false information about the cultivation of narcotic plants in the mountainous area of Puka.
According to the court, after checking the territory of the villages of Curak and Shkozë, they stated that they did not find cultivated narcotic plants, while a few days later, 4000 suspected narcotic plants, of the cannabis type, were found in these areas.
Among those suspended from office is the former head of the section for the investigation of crimes at the Puka police station, currently the head of the section for the criminal archive and the quality of information at the Shkodër Local Police Directorate.
Also, suspended from duty are two police inspectors with duties as assistant specialists for police information and criminal archives, as well as two others with duties as officers of the general patrol.
This is the third case within the last 5 months when Shkodra police officers are suspended from duty and investigated under the suspicion of abuse of duty and favoring the cultivation of narcotic plants.
At the end of June, 13 Shkodra police officers were suspended, including the deputy director for crime investigation together with the head of the crime investigation section. They were accused of having in collaboration favored the cultivation of narcotic plants in the Ana e Mali area.
Meanwhile, in the middle of September, 4 police officers of the police station in Velipoja were suspended from duty; the head of this station together with the person in charge of the control of the territory, the crime investigation specialist as well as a police inspector. Their suspension from office was due to suspicions that they had allowed the cultivation of narcotic plants on a large area, in the territory of Velipoja, where 10,920 suspected narcotic cannabis sativa plants were discovered.
Since the month of June, 22 police officers have been suspended from their duties in the Shkodra District Police Directorate under the suspicion that they have favored the cultivation of narcotic plants as well as willfully neglecting to take measures to prevent, identify and prosecute the perpetrators.
Since the end of April until now, in Shkodra District, which includes 5 municipalities, 197 thousand cannabis plants and seedlings have been discovered and destroyed, which is about 62 percent of all narcotic plants destroyed this year in the territory of Albania. This makes the District of Shkodra the most problematic area in terms of the cultivation of narcotic plants.