Albanian fugitives are hiding in the UK in the same way British crooks once did in the Costa del Sol, experts warn

Albanian fugitives are hiding in Britain in the same way British thugs once did on the Costa del Sol, experts warn amid rising extradition cases.

A stream of suspected murderers, rapists and drug traffickers wanted across Europe have appeared in Britain’s extradition court after being found alive in Britain.

In 2023, at least 34 wanted Albanians faced extradition proceedings.

And this year, at least 27 Albanian suspected criminals have already appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court, facing extradition for crimes committed in, among others France, Italy, Germany And Greece.

Experts say the fugitives use human smuggling routes to cross the Channel and are then protected by Albanian criminal syndicates.

Albanian fugitives are hiding in Britain in the same way British thugs once did on the Costa del Sol, experts warn amid rising extradition cases. Among the fugitives found in Britain is Denis Havalja over the rape of a 14-year-old girl in Albania in 2016

Alleged double murderer Ilirian Zeqaj, 51, faces extradition from Britain for a second time after sneaking into Britain twice and even gaining citizenship under a false name

And a former National Crime The Agency’s (NCA) boss said Britain has become a haven for wanted Albanians, just as the Costa del Sol was for British fugitives.

Among the fugitives found in Britain is Denis Havalja, nicknamed ‘The Beast’ for the rape of a 14-year-old girl in Albania in 2016.

The 37-year-old was sentenced to five years and four months in prison in his home country, but disappeared and fled to Britain after serving less than two years.

Whether he will be sent back to serve the remainder of his sentence will be decided by a judge on June 18.

Alleged double murderer Ilirian Zeqaj, 51, is being extradited from Britain for a second time after sneaking into Britain twice and even gaining citizenship under an assumed name.

Zeqaj allegedly shot two men in the Albanian village of Cakran in 1999, but five months later slipped into Britain in the back of a truck and claimed asylum under the name Klemend Zeqaj after falsely telling officials he was a Kosovan refugee .

And despite being one of Albania’s most wanted fugitives, he was granted permanent residency in 2005 and British citizenship the following year.

Already this year, at least 27 Albanian suspected criminals have appeared before the Westminster Magistrates Court, facing extradition for crimes committed in France, Italy, Germany and Greece, among others.

He has three children, including a daughter studying chemical engineering at Cambridge University, but the Albanian Supreme Court has demanded his return after ruling that an acquittal in 2013 was not safe.

The fate of Zeqaj, who lives in Hanwell, north-west London, is in the hands of the Home Secretary after a district judge approved the extradition in April.

Zeqaj, who runs a bathroom business, plans to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

Ervin Karamuco, professor of criminology at Tirana State University, said Britain has become the ‘Costa del Sol’ for Albanian fugitives because of the criminal networks that already exist here.

“Such criminal organizations agree to harbor wanted Albanians, to provide them with new identities and passports as citizens of EU countries such as Romania or Bulgaria,” he said.

‘Albanians know that they can go unnoticed in Britain for a long time because they will have cover and it will be very difficult for the police to identify them.’

Among those already extradited to an EU country is Algert Datja, 33, who was returned to Italy in April on charges of murder, grievous bodily harm and armed robbery.

His compatriot, Alfred Krrashi, 21, will be returned to France for alleged drug trafficking after extradition was approved in April.

Tony Saggers, former head of the drug threat and intelligence unit at the NCA, said many Albanians became skilled smugglers out of necessity under the hashish communist regime that lasted until the early 1990s.

The Kosovo crisis of the late 1990s and Britain’s willingness to accept refugees from the stricken Balkan state were subsequently exploited by thousands of Albanians who falsely claimed to be Kosovars fleeing the conflict, he added.

“And unless they went on to commit crimes, most have remained largely undiscovered and in Britain without any apparent problems,” he said.

“People follow people, though, so these 1990s satellite communities continued to grow as more Albanians joined friends and family.

‘These communities can then be exploited by Albanian organized crime groups to provide perfect cover for activities in Britain to control the cocaine markets, establish and maintain cannabis farms and smuggle even more people; while also investing in our infrastructure to better legitimize the appearance of being here.

“Some Albanian migrants will arrive to join existing friends and families, others as workers in illegal activities, or both.

‘So because so many people have exploited the Kosovo refugee crisis and been able to settle here when they normally wouldn’t have been able to, we have created a similar environment to that in the south of Spain, where our criminals are inadvertently getting cover from the wider British. community.

‘Albanian OCGs have also established presence and criminal capabilities in Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands, linked to cocaine trafficking capabilities, as ‘gateways’ to Europe.’

Additional reporting by Muhamed Veliu