TIRANA, May 14 /ATA/ Minister of Interior, Bledi Çuçi, stated on Friday that illegal constructions as well as human encroachment on forests, rivers, lakes and protected natural and cultural areas should be addressed with priority and be equivalent to crackdown on organized crime and corruption for the State Police.
Speaking during an event on protection of the Territory and strict adherence to the Criminal Code regarding the crime against territory, from illegal constructions to causing harm to forests, rivers, lakes and natural and cultural protected areas, Çuçi said that, “today we have gathered for a problem that needs to be addressed with priority and foremost importance in the whole gamut of the tasks of State Police and other structures of the Ministry of Interior and I think the time has come to put the emphasis on strict adherence to the legislation on environmental protection in general and specifically the protection of the territory from illegal constructions by the Ministry of Interior structures.”
“It has been a while since the whole structure responsible for the protection of the territory from illegal constructions and all law enforcement structures and agencies dealing with environmental protection fall under the umbrella of the Ministry of Interior. And despite this time I think we have not yet done what is needed in terms of coordinating all these structures,” said Çuçi.
“Good work has been done by the agencies, respectively by NTPI, but also by other agencies that have joined the MoI in environmental protection, but I think we continue to work as independent islands and not properly coordinated with the structures of the police, which was in fact the aim of all the changes we made and reorganization in relation to this issue, ” Çuçi said.
“The time has come for the police to be considered as one. In terms of establishing control over the territory. All responsibility for any kind of criminal crime that is committed in the territory should rest and will be under the legal changes and restructuring with the State Police. The State Police must control every cm2 of the territory of Albania. And we must establish joint teams that will consist of the employee in charge of a certain territory of the Republic of Albania, the inspector responsible for illegal constructions, the inspector responsible for environmental protection, inspector for the protection of forests. And it is this team that should work as one to prevent all crimes against the territory just as the approach to other crimes, ” said Çuçi.
“I want to remind all those perpetrators from North Albania to the southernmost part of Albania they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Forget the Interior Minister’s cell phone number, whoever he is, no matter how rich, no matter how protected he thinks he is, violence against the territory will no longer be tolerated. And I remind you that the prison sentence goes up to 15 years according to the degree of offense set out in the Criminal Code for illegal constructions. On the eve of tourist season, our work comes under bigger pressure and our vigilance and efforts must be multiplied in this regard, ” Çuçi said.
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