The Balkan Cannabis Triangle
A look into the economy of legal and illegal cannabis through investigative reporting in Albania, Greece and North Macedonia; three neighbouring countries that impact each other way more than most think. Different parts of the investigation were published in four languages in the BBC News, VICE, DIE ZEIT and Courrier International.
Author: Kostas Koukoumakas, Photo-video: Alexandros Avramidis, Contributed reporting: Vladimir Karaj (Tirana), Saska Cvetkovska (Skopje). The project was supported by iMEdD – Incubator for Media Education and Development.
Why Europe’s big cannabis route is so hard to shut
BBC News, December 7, 2020
“Now we’re on their turf” says one of the three Greek drug enforcement officers, walking, guns at the ready and bloated in their bulletproof vests. A short distance ahead lies the porous border with Albania. This is the biggest land route for cannabis trafficking in Europe See more
Die Blüten des Balkans
DIE ZEIT, Januar 4, 2021
Wir passieren stillgelegte Eisenbahnlinien, halb zerstörte Fabriktürme, am Straßenrand türmen sich die Müllberge auf. In einem verlassenen Industriegebiet nur wenige Kilometer entfernt vom Stadtzentrum in Skopje, erreichen wir das wohl einzige Gebäude in dieser Gegend, in dem noch Leben herrscht See more
Courrier International Février 18, 2021
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Μιλήσαμε με Έναν Αλβανό Καλλιεργητή που Στέλνει «Χόρτο» σε Ελλάδα και Ιταλία
VICE Greece, January 7, 2021
«Υπάρχουν τρεις βασικοί κανόνες για την επιλογή της φυτείας: καλή πρόσβαση σε νερό, μακριά από την Αστυνομία και τα αδιάκριτα βλέμματα». See more
The Podcast. Listen to the original audio excerpts, unpublished material and fresh interviews covering the latest developments on the investigation.
Find it in Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Kostas Koukoumakas 