A laboratory abroad has undertaken to conduct analyses of KURUM waste, which is suspected to be hazardous and, after returning from Thailand, has been placed in Porto Romano and is being guarded by police forces. The waste was returned after an alarm was raised that it was toxic and had been sent to Thailand by the company “Sokolaj” shpk, owned by Gjovana Sokolaj, without obtaining the authorization of the host country.
To confirm what is inside the 102 containers, samples had to be taken and analyses carried out. But Albanian institutions did not undertake to do this and the Durrës Prosecutor's Office, under pressure from international organizations, requested the help of foreign experts. According to sources, the laboratory that will conduct the analyses has now been identified and experts are expected to arrive to take the samples. But this process took a full 8 months, during which the Durrës Prosecutor's Office, headed by Suela Beluli, slept on the file, giving sufficient time to the responsible persons, including Gjovana Sokolaj and the KURUM company, to erase the traces of the criminal act. The investigations were initially carried out by prosecutor Mediana Metaj, but the case remained pending without concrete results.
Moreover, this “calm” has been helped by the silence of most of the media, which due to KURUM’s marketing has avoided paying attention to a scandal of national proportions. Equally significant is the silence of the government and the apathy of the opposition, which have chosen not to speak out on such a sensitive issue for the health and lives of citizens. The transport of toxic waste remains a topic untouched by politics and the media, while the biggest problem is no longer the failed route to Thailand, but the fact that this waste continues to be deposited within the territory of Albania.
In this country, where the prosecution delays, the government provides no information, the opposition turns a blind eye, and the media is silent, toxic waste has found a safer haven than the citizens themselves. And this is the most poignant proof of a scandal that is being covered in dust, while its poison still remains among us.
