Former interior minister Flamur Noka reacted after an Israeli national was stopped with a covert listening device at Tirana’s International Airport.

Noka says there is a connection between Saimir Tahiri’s dismissal as interior minister and the device leaving Albania.

“Scandal. The national security is an inexistent term in this country today. The scandal provoked from the entrance of IMSI CATCHER reached scary dimensions today. A foreign citizen was captured in Rinas trying to take out of the country a spy device IMSI CATCHER. The police kept it hidden from yesterday afternoon.

It’s not know how long the device operated in Albania, but one thing is sure: As soon as Tahiri was dismissed, they rushed to take it out of Albania.

I’d like to make an appeal to the Prosecution to intervene immediately and sequester the device and discover its use and the offence of eavesdropping”, wrote Noka, Tahiri’s predecessor in the Interior Ministry.