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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/16/albania-police-lazarat-cannabis-marijuana-crackdown
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| Albanian police hit with grenades during cannabis crackdown | Albanian police hit with grenades during cannabis crackdown |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| Authorities say suspected gang members have fired rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and machine guns at hundreds of police officers who tried to enter a village in southern Albania as part of a crackdown on marijuana production. | |
| Police said nobody was hurt in the pre-dawn attack on Monday outside Lazarat, where authorities believe gangs produce about 900 metric tonnes of cannabis a year. The drug production is estimated to be worth about €4.5bn (£3.6bn) – roughly half the country's GDP. | Police said nobody was hurt in the pre-dawn attack on Monday outside Lazarat, where authorities believe gangs produce about 900 metric tonnes of cannabis a year. The drug production is estimated to be worth about €4.5bn (£3.6bn) – roughly half the country's GDP. |
| They said about 500 lightly armed police, including special forces officers, surrounded the village overnight after a smaller force was repelled over the weekend by small arms fire that injured one villager. | |
| Police said they would continue the crackdown on drug producers to "liberate Lazarat from criminals". |