After pressure had been brought to bear on the Albanian Parliament by the Italian government over the past few weeks, Tirana finally approved measures for the sequestering of light vessels used to transport illegal immigrants to Italy.

A few days after the Albanians approved the measures, there was the first application, and six boats were sequestered by the Police in Vlora.

As soon as the news got out, a group of 100-200 people gathered. They went towards the Police station armed with Kalashnikovs, and met no resistance on the way in. They took over the offices of the Police Chief.

Police chief Sokol Kociu was kidnapped and taken to the island of Sazan, where the Police keep the sequestered boats. The officer was only released when he handed the boats over to the smugglers.

The first attempts Albanians made at stopping the smuggling of people has shown up a crime situation even worse than was thought in the young democracy on the other side of the Adriatic.

Since the beginning of 1999, more than two thousand have been illegally brought to the Apulian coast. Most of the are from Kosovo, fleeing the ethnic conflict in their country, and many of them are children.