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Report/ Drugs from the port of Durres 'flood' Europe, money is laundered in towers in Tirana

Politiko 2025-06-26 19:54:31

Report/ Drugs from the port of Durres 'flood' Europe, money is

French media, Radio France, recently dedicated an article to Albania, focusing on the passage of drugs through the Port of Durres and the construction of towers in Tirana.

A report by journalist Louis Seiller highlights how the Port of Durres is used to smuggle drugs to Europe through banana containers.

According to him, after arriving at the port of Durres, cocaine is usually loaded back onto ferries to Italy, across the Adriatic Sea, but is also often transported by road to Kosovo, Serbia, and highways leading to Central Europe.

The journalist also highlights the construction of towers that have surrounded the capital. Seiller states that even though Albania is ranked as one of the countries with the weakest economy, it has built dozens of skyscrapers in the capital, which raise suspicions of money laundering.

Report by Louis Seiller, Radio France Internationale

Around the roundabout that marks the entrance to the port, there are a few small shops and cafes filled with people who work nearby. There I meet Agron, in his sixties. This pensioner from Durrës passes by the containers every day. The bananas come from Ecuador. They enter Albania and then head towards Kosovo and further, to Europe. As everywhere, the authorities are fighting drug trafficking. At the port, they monitor with cameras, scanners and other equipment. And when they find drugs, they make seizures. But they are a little afraid, because it is not easy to fight against traffickers. It takes a lot of courage.

After arriving at the port of Durres, cocaine is usually loaded back onto ferries to Italy, across the Adriatic Sea. But it is also often transported by road to Kosovo, Serbia, and the highways leading to Central Europe.

Fatjona Mejdini is the regional coordinator of the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime. According to her, Balkan networks have become key players in international cocaine trafficking. These groups try to send cocaine to Balkan ports, such as Durrës. But according to their studies, the quantities are smaller than those going to Western European ports, because it is much more difficult to detect the drug there due to the large volume of goods and the proximity to the cocaine consumer market.

In Belgrade and Tirana, construction of luxury buildings has increased in recent years. Modern towers like in Dubai, even though Albania was until recently one of the poorest economies in Europe. For many Albanians, there is no doubt that these projects are financed by cocaine money.

Former Economy Minister Zef Preçi says that many of these towers are built by companies with very low initial capital, a few hundred thousand euros, while investments run into hundreds of millions. Behind these constructions, there are "big fish" who launder money from drug trafficking, especially cocaine coming from Latin America.

Fighting more against organized crime is one of the conditions set for Albania to join the EU. In 2021, about two and a half tons of cocaine were seized in Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro.