An outlaw Albanian village has built a fortune from the cultivation of cannabis worth as much as half the country’s GDP, and it’s off-limits to the police.
GJIROKASTRA, Albania — The last time police tried to enter the
mountainside village of Lazarat near this historic southern city last
summer, they prompted a ferocious firefight a local police commissioner
describes as “very much like a real war.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of being ostracized, he
said he was part of a special forces operation during which sniper units
occupied high ground as SWAT teams moved in to arrest a handful of
people working in fields surrounding the village.
They were no ordinary fields: Lazarat is known as Albania’s drug capital, notorious for its cannabis and lawlessness.
The annual crop earns almost $6 billion, according to the Italian financial police.
Although local police dispute that figure, they admit that marijuana production is booming.
Last year’s raid didn’t last long. When officers began cutting down
cannabis plants, 15 SUVs mounted with heavy machine guns materialized
and started firing.
“We were drawing indiscriminate fire from 20 positions, including
heavy machine guns and anti-tank missiles,” the commissioner said. “I
saw a 70-year-old grandmother shooting at us with a heavy machine gun. I
thought I was going to die.”
For the rest of the story: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/130815/europe-marijuana-capital-lazarat-albania
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