PROJECT “PAMECA V”- THE DIA IN ALBANIA
With a constitutional reform, implemented on 11 August 2016 and largely supported by the international community, the Albanian government envisaged the institution of a so-called Specialised Structure for Anti-Corruption and Organised Crime (SPAK).
This body comprises the Special Prosecution Office (SPO), having the sole jurisdiction to investigate crimes of corruption and organized crime, and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), a Special Unit of judicial police comparable to the Italian Direzione Investigativa Antimafia, responsible over the whole national territory and independent from the Albanian Police and other institutions, specifically engaged in the fight against organized crime and corruption.
In the framework of international police cooperation against organized crime, there is Project “PAMECA V” – Police Assistance Mission of the European Community to Albania, representing one of the most important missions of the European Community in matters of security. It is a Consolidation Project of the Law Enforcement Capacities in Albania, having Italy as Team Leader through the Italian International Police Cooperation Service of the Central Directorate of Criminal Police.
Based on the cooperation exchange between the Italian and Albanian Departments of the Interior and Justice, the initiative has the aim of supporting Albanian law enforcement agencies in the fight against transnational organised crime, also cooperating with EUROPOL and INTERPOL, providing assets and on-spot experts.
The DIA actively participates in the project “PAMECA V” hosting training sessions in the Rome-based headquarters for counterpart officers of the National Bureau of Investigation. The first technical-operational training session took place from 7 – 11 June 2021 for 27 Albanian investigators and was organised by the DIA offering the best national expertise on the strategic issue of the fight against organised crime.