Albanian’s Diplomatic drug system?

Diplomatic drug?

15/05/2009

In Deutsch-German

Bloggers are enraged over the latest scandal tainting Albania’s diplomatic corps.

By Balkanblogs for Southeast European Times — 15/05/09

Police say Haxhiu used a diplomatic car to travel from Macedonia into Turkey carrying 65kg of heroin. [Getty Images]

A senior diplomat from the Albanian Embassy in Skopje was arrested recently by Turkish police on drug-trafficking charges. Agim Haxhiu*, second secretary at the embassy, allegedly used a diplomatic car to travel from Macedonia through Bulgaria and into Turkey, carrying 65kg of heroin.

Albania’s foreign ministry has dismissed Haxhiu from his diplomatic post, citing “unjustified abandonment of duties”.

It is not the first time Albanian diplomacy has become entangled in a drug-trafficking case. Not long ago, Italian police arrested a driver from the country’s embassy in Rome on the same charges. Albanian bloggers are furious.

“It is shameful but not a surprise,” writes Ola at Shekulli Online. “It can’t be any different, seeing as the whole diplomatic corps was destroyed and rebuilt on a ‘client’ basis.”

Xhiri agrees, adding that arresting a single diplomat is no big deal. “What about the others who have not been caught??? They are every day in front of you, pompous and conceited …These are the so-called ‘Bosses’ whom many regard with envy.”

Albo at Forumi Shqipitar wants sterner measures. “It’s not enough to fire the diplomat. He should be extradited in Tirana and face a public trial to be an example for all the others,” he writes.

“I think the foreign ministry should reflect immediately and check the diplomatic staff in the embassies,” Urim Beshello suggests.

 

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Eri, meanwhile, thinks responsibility goes all the way to the top. “How can the foreign minister not be ashamed and resign? Albania has lost all its credibility in the world,” he contends.

But Edi doesn’t think so. “Minister [Lulzim] Basha has no reason to resign,” he argues. “First of all, he is not responsible for monitoring the job of the diplomats directly; rather, it is a special department in the ministry. Secondly, don’t forget that the minister is new and these diplomats were appointed before him.”

Guri i Kuq supports the government. “Where is the personal guilt of Prime Minister Sali Berisha, who with our votes became prime minister in charge of all these officials who were not recruited in the last four years?” he asks.

Finally, Bubi Kacurel appeals to the foreign ministry. “It is no shame to declare you have made a mistake in the selection of your personnel,” he writes. “The shame is when you are trying to deceive us by telling us you fired him before he did his trafficking job.”

This content was commissioned for SETimes.com

 

* Agim Haxhiu is a official Albanian Secret Service Officier under the official CIA Department.

 

Drugs and diplomacy make a sinister mix

12/09/2008

For a drug dealer, what better job than one that comes with diplomatic immunity?

By Balkanblogs for Southeast European Times — 12/09/08

[Getty Images]

Albania’s international image suffered another blow last month when Italian police seized 1kg of cocaine found in a car with diplomatic plates. A driver for the Albanian embassy, 33-year-old Arsen Selmanllari, had parked the car in an illegal spot in Milan, attracting attention from the carabinieri, who soon discovered the drugs. They arrested Selmanllari and a female companion.

Writing at the blog shekulli, Lindita sees the incident as the latest in a string of bad news, including gun trafficking scandals and the catastrophe at the Gerdec munitions plant.

The drug trade has become enmeshed with state institutions, comments Artur. “This case is not the only one discovered,” he writes. “For Albanians, it has become a tradition to seek government employment in order to traffic in drugs without hindrance.”

“The faces of our embassy and people who work there are the representatives of our state all over the world,” Gjergji laments. “The Rome incident is the second one in which persons with diplomatic immunity have been arrested by the Italian authorities, and it is not hard to imagine that our embassy in Italy — the face of our state in one of the countries with which we have a very good relationship — is now being watched by Italian justice.”

Setimes

 

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