FLASH NEWS
Only 8 of the 1,200 Albanian criminals deported from Britain, each convict costing London over 500,000 pounds
2025-04-02 19:03:00 / AKTUALITET
A £4.3m scheme funded by the British government to return hundreds of Albanian criminals to serve their sentences in their homeland has been a spectacular failure. So far, only eight convicts have been transferred from the UK to Albania, despite expectations that the number would be over 200, while another 1,200 remain in British prisons.
According to a report by the British newspaper "Daily Mail", the prisoner transfer agreement signed between the two governments has been blocked by bureaucracy and the overload of Albanian courts. In this context, the Tirana authorities are requesting a review of the sentences handed down by British courts before accepting the transfer of prisoners.
Who are the eight deported convicts?
The eight deported Albanians include individuals convicted of murder, drug trafficking, and rape. Some of the most prominent on this list are:
Klodjan Copja (30) – head of a £60m cocaine supply chain in the UK.
Erald Mema (40) – drug gang boss, sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Gentjan Dervishaj (33) – mastermind of £11m drug trafficking.
Elion Gllava (29) & Andon Bita (49) – involved in a gunfight in Oldham, where one person was shot.
Dardan Dollapaj (25) – convicted of attempted murder with a knife in London.
Rufat Kasamaj (38) – sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison for raping a 15-year-old girl in a shopping centre.
Dolimar Sejdiu (24) – convicted of grievous bodily harm and wounding.
A staggering cost to Britain
According to the Daily Mail report, for each of the eight criminals deported, Britain has spent an average of 537,500 pounds, an amount that includes improvements to Albanian prisons, the purchase of a prisoner transport fleet and the operating costs of the scheme.
Under the agreement, agreed in 2023, Britain was expected to deport all Albanian prisoners serving sentences of more than four years. However, the process has been blocked for 59 criminals still in British prisons, awaiting a decision from Albanian courts.
Meanwhile, a source in the Albanian justice system admitted to the Daily Mail that the process is being dragged out due to a "large number of backlogs" in the Albanian judicial system.
Will this deal work?
The failure to implement this agreement has caused controversy in both countries. The UK is demanding an acceleration of procedures, while the Albanian authorities insist on an individual review of each file. If this slow pace continues, the agreement could be revised or even canceled.
At the moment, hundreds of Albanians convicted in the United Kingdom continue to remain in British prisons, creating a huge financial burden for taxpayers and raising questions about the effectiveness of this much-talked-about agreement.
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