Wanted trafficker occupies official Tirana’s agenda
The wanted alleged trafficker Klement Balili has occupied official Tirana’s agenda on Friday with senior officials commenting and attacking each other on the issue.
Albanian President Bujar Nishani explained why he is going to convey the National Security Council to discuss police’s failure to arrest the international fugitive Klement Balili, an Albanian national accused of international drug trafficking.
The council will be conveyed upon the request of Parliament Speaker, Ilir Meta, who argued his call for the meeting after concerns voiced by the international partners about the inaction of Albanian institutions.
Albanian Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri, who found the move as “wild” said that “Balili has his days counted and will face justice.”
He said that the decision to convey the National Security Council was strange for Albanians because the very same council did not held a meeting when tons of drugs were being grown in Lazarati village, south of Albania.
This statement triggered a response from the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI), a junior partner of Socialist Party in ruling coalition. Petrit Vasili, an MP from the SMI, said that Balili case was a request from the American partners, discussed also during Meta’s visit in Washington where he witnessed Trump’s inauguration.
“The only one concern that ambassador Brownfield raised in that meeting was the failure to arrest Klement Balili,” Vasili said adding that Brownfield requested from Meta to push Albanian authorities to arrest the fugitive.
Greek authorities issued an arrest warrant for Klement Balili on May, 12th 2016, accused for international drug trafficking.
The warrant arrived at Interpol Tirana on May 17, but his full file of 1700 pages arrived at Albanian capital only in December 2016.
The issue was handed over by the Prosecution for Serious Crimes, which issued another arrest warrant for the fugitive. Albanian police has searched for him in some of his properties in Saranda and Divjaka, but has failed to arrest him./tvklan.al