By Ivan Prothero and Andrew Young and Laurence Dollimore and Stewart Carr and Tom Kelly
13:07 02 Dec 2023, updated 13:09 02 Dec 2023
- EXCLUSIVE: Young men from Albania use legal loophole to claim asylum in UK
- They work for gangs in cannabis farms to pay off debt to people smugglers
- If caught by police they plead guilty and then try to block deportation
Albanian teens sneak into the UK and join drugs gangs with the aim of getting sent to prison and aiding their asylum claim, MailOnline can reveal.
Desperate young men make a beeline for cafés used as fronts by gangs like the notorious Hellbanianz and quickly become recruited into working at cannabis farms or dealing drugs on Britain’s estates.
Closely watched by the gangs, the teens work to pay off their debt to people smugglers before sending cash back home.
If caught by police, the men accept prison because mob lawyers use a legal loophole to block deportation back to Albania by claiming they were victims of modern slavery, a gang expert has claimed.
It comes as Albanians make up the largest percentage of arrivals into the UK from just one country via small boat with 28% last year – equating to 12,561 people.
Albanian gangs have seized control of the UK’s cocaine economy over the last 20 years after forming an alliance with Latin American drug cartels.
Among them, the Hellbanianz gang located on the Gascoigne Estate in Barking, East London has established itself as a evil force to be reckoned with.
The notorious crew flaunt their wealth sharing videos to social media of their flash sportscars, jewellery and wads of money.
Arrogant and unafraid of the police, masked Hellbanianz gangsters even shared music videos showing armoured vehicles fitted with heavy machine guns parading around a housing estate in London.
While drugs king pins for the gang happily pose in cushy British prisons in designer tracksuits with ‘Hellbanianz’ or ‘HB’ graffiti scrawled on their cell walls.
Albanian journalist and gang expert Muhammed Veliu told MailOnline that gangsters in the UK become role models for impoverished young men back in their native country.
But such is the need for money – gangs don’t even need to recruit the illegal immigrants once they arrive in our cities and towns.
He said: ‘Young Albanians arrive in the UK to make quick money and pay off the debt they make on the crossing over.
‘They go to [Albanian] coffee shops and get in touch with organisers of cannabis farms or drug dealers to sell cocaine.
‘They are willing to become cannabis farmers to pay off the debt quickly and make good money to send back home.
‘They do not have permission to work in UK and they can’t work on construction sites because they’ll get stopped for not having the correct documents – so this is the quickest way to make money.
‘The gangs don’t have to recruit them – they [the teenagers] come to them because they’re desperate’.
Mr Veliu – who works as a correspondent based in the UK – revealed that young Albanians are even prepared to go to prison because they know a loophole allows them to settle in the UK when they get out.
He said: ‘When cannabis farms get uncovered by police the gangs send their own solicitors to monitor the interview process.
‘So in most cases they are advised to plead guilty to get a lower sentence.
‘At the same time the solicitors tell the clients to claim asylum and say they are victim of modern slavery.
‘They plead guilty straight away but then they claim asylum to block the deportation as a victim.
‘That’s why we have seen the Albanian community as the largest number of claiming asylum under the Modern Slavery Act.’
The Hellbanianz alone are believed to traffic millions of pounds worth of drugs into the country each year.
But smaller Albanian crews and independent dealers are also setting up in Britain.
In January, a drug dealer who arrived in the UK on a migrant boat was found running a £649,000 cannabis farm throughout a historic 15-room Scottish mansion.
Flogerd Baqli, 26, lied that he was a victim of human trafficking when he was part of an organised crime gang overseeing a huge drug cultivation in Dundee.
Dundee Sheriff Court was told that 649 cannabis plants were found inside the listed mansion – estimated to be worth £1.4 million – when it was raided by police.
Baqli – who arrived in England on a boat from France – tried to flee but he was caught after a police chase and arrested close to the property.
While in August, drug lord Selamet Mehmetaj who goes by the name of ‘The Devil’ was locked up for four and a half years for running cannabis factories staffed by illegal immigrants that distributed drugs worth millions of pounds a year across the UK.
‘The Devil’ was known for his horrific bragging on social media after he described how he previously kidnapped and cut off the fingers of a rival who got in his way.
Mehmetaj’s downfall began after Mail reporters posing as dealers wanting to buy drugs wholesale contacted him via his Instagram page titled ‘Albanian Blood’.
On the page, he showed off his cannabis factories and posted videos to highlight what strains were available for customers.
He agreed to meet by his home in Palmers Green, North London, where he told how he splurged the cash from his illicit business on a flashy lifestyle including a £50,000 Mercedes-Benz CLA AMG, an Audi RS7 – which he drives at over 200mph on motorways using fake plates – and a Formula 3 car for off-road racing.
But Selamet Mehmetaj isn’t the only Albanian gangster to have been put away.
Earlier this month, Derbyshire Constabulary shared a dramatic clip of officers smashing an drugs operation led by two Albanian brothers in the East Midlands.
Bodycam footage saw police raid a flat used by the ‘Eddie line’ organised crime group and make a number of arrests.
The force posted on on X (formerly known as Twitter): ‘For nearly a year, the gang ran the ‘Eddie line’ drugs operation, dealing cocaine in Swadlincote, North-West Leicestershire and East Staffordshire and netting hundreds of thousands of pounds in the process.
‘While the inner circle of the OCG – led by brothers Edmund and Edward Haziri – enjoyed lavish lifestyles off the proceeds of crime, they left a trail of addiction, crime and misery on our streets.
‘They are now behind bars.’
In October, a gang of Albanian drug dealers were jailed after having their ‘industrial’ sized cannabis farm in old abattoir near a Norfolk village raided.
The police used a drone in order to catch the suppliers red handed as they descended into the former Norfolk Meats abattoir, in Banham.
Norwich Crown Court heard five men Hysen Kodra, 33, Kristjan Pergjeci, 23, Aldito Drobaj, 22, Emirjan Gatali, 29, and Bledar Troka, 34, were working as cannabis ‘gardeners’ at the unit, which prosecutors said was capable of producing ‘industrial quantities for commercial sale’.
All five of the Albanian males, who were sentenced to 22 months in prison were found to have been in the UK illegally and were based in London.
While in February last year, Drugs baron Taulant Stoica, 36 was arrested and imprisoned for ten years after admitting to three counts of conspiracy to supply cocaine and one count of money laundering.
He has been accused of smuggling heroin from the Netherlands into Italy.
Prosecutors also claim that he set up Milano Café in Lea Bridge Road, Walthamstow, London, as a front to avoid arrest.
Stoica used the EncroChat handle ‘Palefog’ to organise his team of Albanian runners including Muhamet Quosja, 30, and 39-year-old Eduard Hadjini.
Henchman Qosja stored the cocaine he would distribute to London street dealers beneath a child’s cot at his home in Ilford, east London.
Undercover officers tailed Qosja through east London before encircling him in unmarked cars.
Qosja bragged to officers he sneaked into Britain illegally in 2014 and decided to deal drugs because it ‘paid well’ and was jailed for ten years last June.
Since the early 1990s, the UK welcomed many from Balkan countries, as they fled war and persecution across communities in Albania and Kosovo.
The mass migration has left remote Albanian communities – in regions like Kukes – living in ‘ghost towns’ as so many young people and families have left.
The region in north east Albania near the Kosovo border has the highest percentage of its population living illegally in the UK or claiming asylum, compared to any other area of the former Communist country.
To combat the economic issues, the UK government has recently announced £8.4million funding to be invested in some of the nation’s poorest areas including job creation and community schemes in the poverty-stricken region of Kukesi.
The new mayor of Kukes, Albert Halilaj has pledged to spend much of the UK money on persuading people to return by offering tax rebates and grants to set up businesses related to tourism which he sees as the key to boosting the region’s economy.
But young people are desperate to leave the country and set up a new life in Britain.
Fjoli Zhubi, 17, told the Daily Mail he was prepared to be people smuggled into the UK if he was unable to find work after he completes a three year course to become a vehicle mechanic at a professional school.
He said: ‘My parents don’t want me to go, but I will have no choice if I can’t find a job.
‘My chances of getting work here are just 50/50 because the economy is not good. About 80 per cent of people who leave college here stay unemployed.
‘If it is possible, I will try and apply for a visa to go to the UK legally, but I may have to pay to go on a truck. I have relatives in England and I know I will get work there.’
A 15-year-old boy called Dardan vowed to try and get to the UK as soon as he finishes middle school in July.
He said: ‘Maybe I will get there in a truck or by boat. It will cost me thousands of euros, but I can borrow the money, and pay it back by working. I want to work in England as an electrician. I have been learning the trade from my uncle who is an electrician.’
Figures reveal that about 53% of asylum applications from Albanians were granted between January and June last year.
Mr Veliu said that while Britain’s £8M is welcome – it will not be enough to combat the influence of drugs gangs.
He said: ‘The Hellbanianz are well established and young boys in north of Albania see their videos and flash cars and see their lifestyles.
‘They say ‘ok this guy was poor like us, he went to the UK and made lots of money so why can’t I do that’. They are seen as role models.
‘But not just Hellbanianz, but musicians that glorify guns, models and so on.
‘The £8M is a good effort.
‘But the UK government should work with big businesses and bring business and big factories to open new employment and jobs. That is solution.’
However, Albanians who wish to remain in the UK can seek refuge and advice from charities including the Shpresa Programme charity who promote the integration of members of the Albanian-speaking community in the UK.
They provide and facilitate education and training so that their members and service users can live full and active roles within their communities.
A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘We have implemented a series of reforms to make the modern slavery system more robust. This ensures genuine victims are supported and protects it from abuse.
‘Where we accept a referral for a potential victim of trafficking, an assessment is made using published statutory guidance as to whether their claim meets the threshold for recognition as a confirmed victim of trafficking.’
‘Any foreign national who is convicted of a crime and given a prison sentence is considered for deportation at the earliest opportunity.’
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
