Diplomatic drug?

15/05/2009

Bloggers are enraged over the latest scandal tainting Albania's diplomatic corps.

By Balkanblogs for Southeast European Times -- 15/05/09

Police say Haxhiu used a diplomatic car to travel from Macedonia into Turkey carrying 65kg of heroin. [Getty Images]

A senior diplomat from the Albanian Embassy in Skopje was arrested recently by Turkish police on drug-trafficking charges. Agim Haxhiu, second secretary at the embassy, allegedly used a diplomatic car to travel from Macedonia through Bulgaria and into Turkey, carrying 65kg of heroin.

Albania's foreign ministry has dismissed Haxhiu from his diplomatic post, citing "unjustified abandonment of duties".

It is not the first time Albanian diplomacy has become entangled in a drug-trafficking case. Not long ago, Italian police arrested a driver from the country's embassy in Rome on the same charges. Albanian bloggers are furious.

"It is shameful but not a surprise," writes Ola at Shekulli Online. "It can't be any different, seeing as the whole diplomatic corps was destroyed and rebuilt on a 'client' basis."

Xhiri agrees, adding that arresting a single diplomat is no big deal. "What about the others who have not been caught??? They are every day in front of you, pompous and conceited ...These are the so-called 'Bosses' whom many regard with envy."

Albo at Forumi Shqipitar wants sterner measures. "It's not enough to fire the diplomat. He should be extradited in Tirana and face a public trial to be an example for all the others," he writes.

"I think the foreign ministry should reflect immediately and check the diplomatic staff in the embassies," Urim Beshello suggests.

Eri, meanwhile, thinks responsibility goes all the way to the top. "How can the foreign minister not be ashamed and resign? Albania has lost all its credibility in the world," he contends.

But Edi doesn't think so. "Minister [Lulzim] Basha has no reason to resign," he argues. "First of all, he is not responsible for monitoring the job of the diplomats directly; rather, it is a special department in the ministry. Secondly, don't forget that the minister is new and these diplomats were appointed before him."

Guri i Kuq supports the government. "Where is the personal guilt of Prime Minister Sali Berisha, who with our votes became prime minister in charge of all these officials who were not recruited in the last four years?" he asks.

Finally, Bubi Kacurel appeals to the foreign ministry. "It is no shame to declare you have made a mistake in the selection of your personnel," he writes. "The shame is when you are trying to deceive us by telling us you fired him before he did his trafficking job."