Kristina Amerhauser

Armed with smartphones and, in the main, directed by smugglers, most take the 'Eagle's Nest', a mountain path near the Morina border crossing, or follow the White Drin River.

Some 3,739 were convicted, including Valentina, but her brush with the law hasn't stopped her. Valentina's persistence is testimony to the deep roots of cannabis cultivation in rural regions of Albania, where poverty is rife and cannabis is seen as a financial lifeline. Police collusion also remains common.

Only around 1 per cent of Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, in the Western Balkans work in the field of anti-corruption and organised crime, a report by from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, GI-TOC, launched on Monday, concluded.