Smoke rises from Lazarat village, on Tuesday, June 17, 2014, allegedly from villagers burning their cannabis fields ahead of the police raid | Photo by : Hektor Pustina/AP

“The issue of organized crime is delicate as it affects the image that politicians and the public have of Albania in EU member states,” Gledis Gjipali, director of the European Movement in Albania, a Tirana-based think tank, said.

“The police intervention in Lazrat, which has been much popularized as a problem, will help convince these countries that Albania takes the war on trafficking and organized crime seriously,” he added.

More than 800 police officers have been enagaged in a massive operation this week against drug traffickers in Lazarat, which is known as Albania’s cannabis capital. The operation began on Monday.

Italian financial police say the remote village in the south of the country produced 900 metric tons of marijuana last year, for an estimated street value of €4.5 billion.

On Thursday, police said that over the last three days they had destroyed more 80,000 cannabis plants and saplings, over 12.3 tons of marijuana, two drugs labs, weapons and ammunition.

One police officer and two shepherds were wounded on Tuesday as authorities tightened their grip on a village that has become synonymous with uncontrolled crime.

Thirteen suspects, including an alleged drug baron who shot at the police, have been arrested.

Tirana first applied for EU candidate status in 2008 but its bid was thwarted by a fraught political climate between the government and the opposition and a poor record of reforms, particularly on the fight against organized crime and corruption.

In a progress report issued in June, the European Commission said Albania has continued to implement and consolidate EU-related reform measures, in particular those relating to candidate status.

“There has been continued political will to act decisively in the prevention and fight against corruption and structural reforms testify to an all-encompassing approach including a wide range of institutions,” the Commission said.

It was the second unconditional positive recommendation to member states to grant Albania’s the status of candidate country in the last year.

Last November, the Commission also issued a positive recommendation on Albania’s bid, but the EU Council of Ministers decided to postpone the decision, seeking a better track record on organized and corruption.

Gjipali noted that last December, the motion to reject Albania’s candidate status in the Dutch parliament was initiated by a far-right party, which claimed that Albania was riddled by crime.

Six months later, on Thursday, the Dutch parliament voted to back the Commission’s positive recommendation for Albania’s EU candidate status.

“The intervention in Lazarat shows that the government has the political will to install the rule of law,” Gjipali said.

“The results produced by this police operation underscore that it’s not simply a propaganda show,” he concluded.