Albania tightens punishments for serious criminal offences

Albanian Justice Ministry on Thursday urged more severe punishments for serious criminal offences and re-evaluation of alternative sentences because of the increase of the juvennile delinquency. "We need a new policy, a more severe policy against law violators. We have decided to ask General Prosecution Office to take more severe verdicts for grave penal acts and to re-evaluate alternative sentences,"Minister of Justice Nasip Naco told a press conference. Naco considered the probation service and electronic surveillance system as two important instruments, underling expansion of these services throughout the country's territory. The minister's decision came after four armed robbers disguised as "Santa Claus" robbed jewelries worth of 410,000 U.S. dollars from a store in the suburbs of Tirana on Christmas Eve. The Albanian police was immediately mobilzed to track the armed gang, in the meantime, started the investigation into the case.