
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, November 21, 1993                   TAG: 9311210027
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-13   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: TIRANA, ALBANIA                                LENGTH: Short

EXILED ALBANIAN KING GETS EXPELLED AGAIN

Albania's exiled king was expelled again Saturday after his return caught the government by surprise.

The 54-year-old King Leka Zogu I, who last was in Albania when he was 2 days old, arrived aboard a chartered jet Friday and quietly checked into a Tirana hotel. His royal passport apparently was not questioned by customs authorities.

But Saturday, police told the king his passport was not valid in Albania and he would have to leave the country. Police escorted him to the airport, where he left on a chartered flight to an undisclosed destination.

It was his first return to his homeland since his father, the late King Ahmet Zogu, spirited him out of Albania just before the Italian occupation in April 1939.

"When the king came out of the plane, he kissed the ground all in tears," said Murat Bashaj, a member of the entourage. - Associated Press

by CNB