Drug trafficking and smuggling of goods/ 2 wanted persons arrested in Kapshtica, another arrested

2025-12-26 14:24:00, Kronika CNA

Drug trafficking and smuggling of goods/ 2 wanted persons arrested in Kapshtica,

Eight people have been arrested, detained and criminally prosecuted as part of controls to prevent and crack down on illegalities at the border.

The announcement from the local directorate for border and migration in Korça states that 2 of the 8 people were detained after being wanted and 1 was arrested for smuggling goods.

Meanwhile, it is also reported that 5 others were prosecuted at large for various criminal offenses.

Police announcement:

Local Directorate for Border and Migration Korça

The Border Police intensifies controls to prevent and crack down on illegal activities at the border.

8 citizens are arrested, detained and criminally prosecuted (of which 2 citizens were detained after being wanted, 1 was arrested for smuggling goods and 5 others were prosecuted at large, for various criminal offenses).

As part of the in-depth checks and interviews by the Border Police services, at the entrance to the Republic of Albania, at the Kapshtica BCP, the following citizens were detained:

E. Rr., 26 years old, resident of Elbasan, after the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction of Elbasan sentenced him to 9 months in prison, of which he still has 2 months and 11 days to serve, for the criminal offense of "Failure to report a crime";

EE, 33 years old, resident of Pogradec, after the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction of Korça has imposed the security measure "Arrest in prison" on him, for the criminal offense "Production and sale of narcotics".

The services of the Korça Local Directorate for Border and Migration, following detailed checks, carried out based on risk analysis of citizens and the vehicles they travel in, have detected 2 cases of smuggling of goods, specifically:

citizen AM, 46 years old, resident of Shenkoll, Lezha, was arrested in flagrante delicto, who, after appearing at the entrance to the Kapshtica BCP, completed the registration procedures in the TIMS system and left without completing further customs procedures for a quantity of 1506 kg of honey, suspected of being smuggled, which he had in the vehicle he was driving. The quantity of honey was seized as material evidence;

The materials were referred to the Prosecutor's Office, where criminal proceedings were initiated against the following citizens:

IL, 35 years old, resident of Paskuqan, Tirana, for the criminal offense of “Smuggling of other goods”;

EM, 35 years old, resident of Korça, working as a customs officer at the Kapshtica Border Crossing Point, for the criminal offense of "Abuse of office".

Near the Kapshtica Border Crossing Point, a vehicle driven by citizen IL was found, and a significant amount of olive oil without the relevant documentation was found, suspected of being smuggled from Greece, where it was seized as material evidence.

From further investigative actions, it is suspected that customs officer EM abused his duty, as he did not exercise control over citizen IL's vehicle.

Also, the services of the Korça DVKM referred the materials to the Prosecutor's Office, where criminal proceedings were initiated for the criminal offense of "Illegal crossing of the state border", for the citizens:

F. Xh., 46 years old, resident of the village of Zvezdë, Maliq;

VR, 46 years old, resident of Pogradec;

B. Xh., 55 years old, resident of the village of Sohodoll, Peshkopi,

as they are suspected of having crossed the border from Greece towards Albania illegally.

The procedural materials were referred to the Korça Prosecutor's Office for further action. / CNA