Czech tourists robbed and killed in Albanian mountains

DUKAGJIN - Two Czech tourists were shot on an Albanian mountain road on Friday (July 3), and the killers rolled their car down a ravine to portray the deaths as an accident, police and eyewitness reports said on Saturday (July 4). Michael Savos, 27, and Anna Kosinova, 36, were gunned down as they took a turn to a tent camp in the Alpine area of Theth, a favourite haunt of Czech tourists despite the disappearance there of three youths in 2001. Police questioned some 35 people and a bounty of 30,000 euros is offered to anyone who has information regarding the incident, local media report. A police spokesman said they had found an automatic weapon inside the car, and an ammunition magazine and two bullet casings nearby. "One of the attackers might have been travelling with the victims," a police spokesman said. Reports said the killers stole the tourists' possessions. The wilderness of Theth, among peaks as high as 2,400 metres (7,900 feet), draws tourists from both Western and Central Europe, especially Czechs. Given its remoteness, it has also turned into a favourite spot for cultivating cannabis despite a police operation there last summer to eradicate the plant. –Reuters