Jailed drug lord becomes first prisoner to be returned to Albania as part of £4 million prison swap deal with Britain

An Albanian drug lord has become the first con man to be sent home as part of a £4 million swap deal.

Klodjan Copja, 36, will serve the remainder of his 17-year term in an Albanian prison, saving British taxpayers tens of thousands.

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He was then jailed in 2017 Police destroyed a £150m network which was flooded London and the southeast with cocaine.

Kopja spent four years on the run before he was caught Greece–Albania border with a false passport and extradited to Britain to face trial.

Sources from the Albanian Prison Directorate confirmed that his transfer took place a few weeks ago.

Britain pays Albania to repatriate dangerous delays.

Twelve murderers, eight rapists and more than 100 people guilty of drug or firearms offenses are expected to be sent back to serve the remainder of their sentences.

The deal saves around two-thirds of the £109 daily cost of keeping them locked up here.

It costs £32 per day in Albania.

The agreement was announced last year, Minister of Justice Alex Chalk said: “The public expects foreign criminals to serve their sentences abroad – not in our prisons at the expense of taxpayers.

“This deal will accelerate the removal of these perpetrators and give victims confidence that serious criminals will continue to face justice and spend the remainder of their sentences behind bars.”

A government spokesperson said: “We are working hard to remove foreign offenders from Britain and over 16,000 have been deported in the last five years.”