TIRANA, August 21 – In two separate events two Russians and a Ukrainian as well as four Czechs were detained for alleged espionage in Albania in the span of time of the last 24 hours, said authorities of the Ministry of Defense on Sunday.
In the first event two Russians and a Ukrainian were caught at a military plant in the town of Gramsh, southern Albania.
A Russian man, the 24-year-old Mikhail Zorin, was detained after entering the plant’s grounds in Gramsh, 80 kilometres south of the capital, Tirana, and taking photos, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Two Albanian military guards were injured by what is alleged to be a type of paralyzing agent or pepper spray used by the Russian while resisting arrest.
“Three citizens with Russian and Ukrainian passports have tried to enter the factory,” said the statement of the Ministry of Defense. “The officers who were guarding the plant reacted immediately, but during their efforts to stop the three foreign nationals, two of our soldiers were injured,” it added.
All three foreign nationals were placed under arrest and their vehicle was blocked, the ministry said. The vehicle has since been identified as an orange Chevrolet muscle car with Ukrainian license plates.
Authorities said the military police, alongside intelligence and anti-terrorism agencies, rushed to the scene to investigate the incident. Interior Minister Niko Peleshi said that they were following the two Russians and Ukrainian for some days.
“What pride for the military guards who neutralized three individuals suspected of espionage,” Prime Minister Edi Rama wrote on Twitter, adding: “Now let’s wait for the full clarification of this event.”
But the three suspects arrested in Gramsh claimed that they are “bloggers photographing Communist-era buildings,” local media reported.
The Gramsh military plant opened in 1962 to produce licenced copies of AK-47 Kalashnikov rifles.
In the other event four Czech citizens were apprehended by the police after they were caught taking pictures near a weapons factory and arms depot in Polican, which is also located in the southern part of this Balkan country.
The incident took place at around 8:40 am on Sunday after the Czech nationals were detected in one of the tunnels at the facility, the Ministry of Defence said in another statement. The suspects have been taken in for questioning and the four are claiming to be tourists.
The two arrests seem to be unrelated, despite Gramsh and Polican being in the same area of southern Albania and only 90 kilometres apart.
The regional police director, military police representatives and at least two vehicles of the rapid intervention force, FNSH, have all been seen arriving in the region’s capital, Berat.
After the fall of communism in 1990, it stopped production and instead began to dismantle old Kalashnikovs and other small weapons. It also repairs other army weapons. The facility is currently being tested for conversion to produce 5.56mm NATO rounds, local media reported.
The factory in Poliçan also made Kalashnikovs in the past, while it now manufactures 7.62mm ammunition. Rifles and pistols produced in the former Soviet Union and its satellite states, such as AK-47 and Tokarev, are commonly made in this caliber.
Albania, a NATO member since 2009, has strongly renounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has joined European Union and US sanctions against Moscow.
/Argumentum.al
