10 tons of mandarins with pesticides sold/ 3 people arrested in Berat

2025-02-26 10:30:00, Kronika CNA

10 tons of mandarins with pesticides sold/ 3 people arrested in Berat
The Berat Prosecution Office has detained three people accused of criminal offenses after, according to the Prosecution, they sold 10 tons of pesticide-laced mandarins on the Albanian market, which were returned from Croatia.
The arrested are citizens Arben Dyli, Elton Tafa and Elson Tahiraj.

The persons are accused of the criminal offenses of "Violation of regulations on poisonous substances", "Production and sale of food and other substances dangerous to human health or life", "Fraud with food products" and "Abuse of duty",

The materials were passed to the Prosecutor's Office at the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction in Berat for further investigative actions.

Full announcement:

The Berat Prosecution Office has detained three people after they are accused of the following criminal offenses: The Economic-Financial Crime Investigation Section, in cooperation with the Prosecution Office at the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction in Berat, after several months of investigations conducted within the framework of Criminal Proceedings no. 768 of 2024, registered for the criminal offenses "Violation of rules on poisonous substances", "Production and sale of food and other substances dangerous to human health or life", "Fraud with food products" and "Abuse of duty", provided for by articles 281, 288, 288/c and 248 of the Criminal Code, has detained the following citizens:

1. Arben Aqif Dyli, born on 02.06.1969

2. Elton Hekuran Tafa, born 21.06.1979

3. Elson Petrit Tahiraj, born 10.05.1995

The detention of these citizens was carried out after the investigative actions so far suspected that citizen Elton Tafa, a farmer by profession, sold to citizen Arben Dyli (administrator of the collection point) a quantity of about 10 tons of mandarins which the subject of citizen Arben Dyli then exported to Croatia. The necessary analyses were carried out by the Croatian authorities, which resulted in the quantity of mandarins having a high content of the pesticide "Fosmet", a pesticide that is harmful to health and prohibited for use. Under these conditions, the load of mandarins was returned to the country of origin where it turns out that it was withdrawn by citizen Arben Dyli and then it is suspected that it was put back on the market without being destroyed according to the relevant procedure.

It is also suspected that citizen Elson Tahiraj, an inspector at the Regional Directorate of Veterinary and Plant Protection, has abused his duty by issuing fictitious phytosanitary certificates for various entities, including the entity of citizen Arben Dyli./ CNA