Two kibbutzniks from the south of the country, in their twenties, have been detained for almost six months in a detention center in the city of Tirana, the capital of Albania, on suspicion of smuggling cannabis into the country. Their families and those close to them are doing everything to keep a low profile for fear that if they are interviewed it will hinder their release. Recently, a serious indictment was filed against the two for smuggling drugs into the country.”These are outstanding students, amazing young guys. Law-abiding people who came with permits to possess and use medical cannabis, but the authorities in Albania are really not interested,” claims a source close to one of the detainees. “As far as the Albanian police are concerned, the young Israelis tried to smuggle a drug through the state border.”
The enforcement authorities have refused to this day to release them to house arrest for fear that they will use it to flee the country. At one point, their lives were in real danger because of the war in Gaza, when Muslim detainees threatened to harm them. Following the intervention of the Israeli consul, they were moved to another safer facility.
Local lawyers are representing them in the trial that will open soon. The Foreign Ministry is trying to help the two in order to bring about their release. The Israeli consul at the embassy in Tirana visited them several times.
Officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ask Israelis who have a permit to use medical cannabis to carefully check the countries that allow the importation of the drug with medical permits into countries that do not, in order not to risk arrest.
