TIRANA, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Over 3,100 police officers have been deployed across the country in a massive operation to destroy cannabis plants, Albania's state police said in a press release on Thursday.
The operation aims at preventing the cultivation of narcotic plants as well as identifying and destroying such plants, police said.
The focus of the police raid will be the greenhouses, storehouses, tunnels and abandoned houses across Albania with the aim to find cannabis packages or dried plants prepared for sale.
The operation will expand in open areas, mainly in remote villages as they are most preferred by the cultivators of narcotic plants.
The increase and spread of cannabis cultivation in Albania has become a sensitive issue. As general elections on June 18 approach, concerns have been raised that drugs money could be used for vote purchase or manipulation of election results.
In recent months, Albanian state police has undertaken several raids which have resulted in the seizure of huge amounts of cannabis and marijuana, exceeding three tonnes of drugs.
