Albanian police killed one of three gunmen in a shootout after the audacious theft of €10mn from a plane at Tirana international airport on April 9.

Armed robberies are not uncommon at Tirana airport. Several incidents on a smaller scale happened in the last three years.

The armed group of three masked men broke into the airport, using a gate used by firefighters. They then threatened security guards and staff with guns, and stole cash from an Austrian Airlines aircraft which was about to head to Vienna.

The robbery took place when the cash was being loaded in the plane.

The gang, considered one of the most dangerous in Albania, left the scene in a van marked “Tax inspection”, but police opened fire on them and during the exchange of fire, killed one of them. The other two robbers managed to escape. The police have launched an extensive search operation.

Two packages of TNT and a grenade were found on the body of the gunman who was killed by the police.

The stolen money was due to be transported to a Vienna bank, which is a common practice because Albania’s central bank does not accept large foreign currency deposits of local banks in cash.

Austria Airlines said it will not make any further cash transfers from Tirana airport to Vienna as a security measure.

Albanian Daily News reported that following the incident, the police arrested four people, members of the security staff and questioned 40 other people.

Secretary general of the Albanian Association of Banks Spiro Brumbulli criticised what he said is the "poor condition of security" at the airport, saying the incident is very serious.

The opposition leader from Albania’s Democratic Party, Lulzim Basha, also criticised the police for their failure to prevent the robbery.