TIRANA, Abania: Albania on Friday housed its first group of Afghan evacuees who made it out of their country despite days of chaos near the Kabul airport, including an attack claimed by the Daesh group.
A government statement said an Egyptian Almasria Universal Airlines plane landed at the Tirana international airport at 3:20 a.m. (01:20 GMT) carrying 121 people, including 11 children. It was not clear whether this was the first flight after the two suicide bombings in Kabul that killed at least 60 Afghans and 13 American troops, or if the plane that landed in Albania’s capital had come directly from Afghanistan.
“It was the fear from such attacks which pushed us our utmost that these citizens come soonest to Albania, where they are away from danger and fear for their lives,” Albanian Foreign Minister Olta Xhacka said. She and US Ambassador Yuri Kim were at the airport to greet the evacuees.
A government source said the flight from Kabul was organized by a US non-governmental association and there was a stopover in Tbilisi, Georgia before landing in Tirana.
After the plane landed in Tirana, the passengers were supplied with facemasks and had their information processed in a military tent before they were taken on buses to hotels in the nearby western port city of Durres. The Albanian government will supply them with food, transportation, security and other necessities, according to the foreign minister.
The government plans to allow the evacuees to stay in Albania for at least a year before they move to the United States for final settlement.
Albania may temporarily house up to 4,000 Afghans, people who would be at risk in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Xhacka said they include “pedagogues, artists, intellectuals, activists of the civil society, human rights organizations or those of women.”
Kim praised the Albanian government for agreeing to host evacuees.
Such a move has been highly evaluated and praised from Washington.
“As they have always done, the people of Albania are once again providing hospitality & protection to those in greatest need,” the US ambassador tweeted. “We are proud to call you a friend & ally. Thank you.”
Albania gets 1st Afghan evacuees after deadly Kabul blasts
https://arab.news/58auf
Albania gets 1st Afghan evacuees after deadly Kabul blasts
- An Egyptian Almasria Universal Airlines plane landed at Tirana International Airport carrying 121 people, including 11 children
- Albania plans to allow the evacuees to stay for at least a year before they move to the United States for final settlement
Over 1,400 Indonesians left Cambodian scam groups in five days: embassy
- Scammers working from hubs across Southeast Asia lure Internet users globally into fake romances and cryptocurrency investments
- Some foreign nationals have evacuated suspected scam compounds across Cambodia this month
PHNOM PENH: More than 1,400 Indonesians have left cyberscam networks in Cambodia in the last five days, Jakarta said on Wednesday, after Phnom Penh pledged a fresh crackdown on the illicit trade.
Scammers working from hubs across Southeast Asia, some willingly and others trafficked, lure Internet users globally into fake romances and cryptocurrency investments, netting tens of billions of dollars each year.
Some foreign nationals have evacuated suspected scam compounds across Cambodia this month as the government pledged to “eliminate” problems related to the online fraud industry, which the United Nations says employs at least 100,000 people in Cambodia alone.
Between January 16-20, 1,440 Indonesians left sites operated by online scam syndicates around Cambodia and went to the Indonesian embassy in Phnom Penh for help, the mission said in a statement.
The “largest wave of arrivals” occurred on Monday when 520 Indonesians came to the embassy, it said.
Recent Cambodian law enforcement measures against scam operators meant more citizens would likely continue showing up at the embassy, it added.
“The main problem for them is that they do not possess passports and they are staying in Cambodia without valid immigration permits,” according to the embassy.
It urged Indonesians leaving scam sites to report to the embassy, which could assist them with securing travel documents and overstay fine waivers in order to return home.
Indonesia said this week that its embassy in Phnom Penh handled more than 5,000 consular service cases for citizens in Cambodia last year — more than 80 percent of which were related to Indonesians who “admitted to being involved with online scam syndicates.”
Cambodia arrested and deported Chinese-born tycoon Chen Zhi, accused of running Internet scam operations from Cambodia, to China this month.
Chen, a former adviser to Cambodia’s leaders, was indicted by US authorities in October.
Analysts say Chen’s extradition has left some of those running Internet scams from Cambodia fearing legal consequences — after the criminal enterprises ballooned for years — with some operators opting to release people or evacuate their compounds.
