Albania Police Uproot Cannabis Plantations in North

Albania's police launched yet another massive operation aiming to the curb the marijuana trade as the harvest season nears. 

"We have engaged about 450 officers from the police and the Rapid Intervention Force for the operation carried in the Dukagjin area. We encountered no incidents," a police statement on Tuesday said.

"Within a few hours we destroyed 65 plots that contained about 6,600 cannabis plants," the statement added.

Dukagjin, a mountainous and inaccessible area in northern Albania bordering Montenegro, has few inhabitants. Police say local gang lords uses patches of land sited well away from inhabited areas to plant cannabis in order to avoid detection.

Gangsters often use guns to protect their plants but in most cases flee before the police arrive. Police have had difficulties in finding the persons responsible for planting the drugs and have concentrated efforts on finding and destroying as many plantations as they can.