Seven men including two imams were arrested today in a coordinated operation in several towns in Albania accused for inciting terrorism and recruiting fighters for Syrian rebel groups fighting to topple the government of the dictator Bashar al Assad.According to the local media, the police found also bullets and explosives. The operation was carried in Tirana, Elbasani, Pogradec and Librazhd.
It is though that several dozen Albanians are currently fighting in Syria where some of them died in war. The government intends to punish fighting in foreign wars by 10 years in prison.
According to the police, arrested names are: Genc Balla, Bujar Hysa, Edmond Balla, Verdi Morava, Fadil Myslimani, Zeqir Imeri and Almir Daçi.
International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at King’s College London estimated last December that Albania participation in Syrian war to be between 9 to 140 fighters while there are also 4 to 150 fighters from Kosovo and 3 to 20 fighters from Macedonia.