Tirana, June 13
Reports that President George W. Bush had his wristwatch stolen while shaking hands with Albanians on his weekend visit are false, Albanian police and the US embassy said Tuesday. “The story is untrue and the president did not lose his watch,” a spokesman for the embassy in Tirana said.

Some newspapers, television stations and websites carried reports that Bush’s watch vanished Sunday when he was greeted by ecstatic crowds in Fushe Kruje, outside the capital Tirana. “It is not true,” said Albania’s police director, Ahmet Prenci. A White House spokeswoman denied the president’s watch had been swiped - and added: “He took it off.” She also denied Albanian claims that the watch had fallen off and been found by a bodyguard.

Kastriot Robo, Albania’s London ambassador, said yesterday: “This is a real embarrassment to the people of Albania because his visit had been so welcoming and friendly.

Photographs showed Bush, surrounded by five bodyguards, putting his hands behind his back so one of the bodyguards could remove his watch.

George Bush plunged into a crowd to shake hands as he got a hero’s welcome on his first visit to Albania — and emerged without his watch. The president was mobbed during a trip to a farming village by locals who reached out to grab him by the wrist, hugged him and even ruffled his hair.

Bush, more used to being barracked by anti-war protesters, was clearly elated to be so popular for a change.

In fact he enjoyed it so much that after being rescued from the crowd’s embraces he plunged back in for more backslapping, handshakes and kisses.

But when he finally emerged from the scrum in Fushe Kruje his £25 Timex, with a distinctive stars and stripes on its face, was missing. Within hours Albanian TV was screening footage showing the president wearing the watch as the visit began — but bare-wristed at the end.