The incident happened in March 1997 during the Albanian Civil War, when a group of six people attacked the fortified building of the State Treasury with an antitank weapon. The total amount of money that was inside the building was US$8 million, but the robbers only managed to acquire US$6 million. The few police still in the city soon arrived at the scene and took control of the remaining assets. Later, the thieves were seen by several witnesses meeting at the outskirts of Shkodër, where they divided the money between themselves.