The UK government’s ambitious plan to deport convicted Albanian criminals has turned into a costly and ineffective scheme, with just eight offenders returned home at an estimated cost of £530,000 each. Despite a £4.3 million payment to Albania to upgrade its prison system as part of a "groundbreaking" agreement, the vast majority of the 200 criminals originally earmarked for deportation remain in the UK—including rapists, murderers, and drug traffickers.

 

One of them is Ibrahim Bezati, a man responsible for what a judge described as “every woman’s worst nightmare.” Along with two other Albanian men, Bezati kidnapped a woman from Bedford town centre, imprisoned her in a flat, forced her to take cocaine, and then raped her. She managed to escape after three hours, running into the street where a passerby called the police. “I need Mum,” she told a friend at the station. Yet despite his 17-year sentence, Bezati has not been sent back to Albania.

 

 

The UK-Albania prisoner transfer agreement, signed in 2023, was supposed to facilitate the deportation of high-risk criminals to serve their sentences in Albania, where imprisonment costs a fraction of UK rates—£12,000 per year compared to £40,000. However, out of 1,270 Albanian prisoners in England and Wales, only eight have been deported under the deal. The agreement has so far proven to be a financial disaster, with UK taxpayers funding Albanian prison improvements, including 15 electric cars, 22 minibuses, training for prison staff, and security enhancements.

 

Public outrage has been growing. William Yarwood from the TaxPayers’ Alliance called the situation “infuriating,” saying, “Taxpayers will be apoplectic at the astonishing amount of cash handed over to Albania with little in return. It is clear they are taking the sterling but not the subjects.”

 

Another Albanian rapist, Klodjan Samurri, remains in the UK despite his seven-year sentence for attacking a woman in North London. After a night out with friends, the victim returned home, where Samurri and others were told they couldn’t stay the night. She went to bed, put on an eye mask, and woke up to find Samurri raping her. He was also expected to be deported under the scheme but appears to have evaded removal.

 

Similarly, Koci Selamaj, who murdered 28-year-old primary school teacher Sabina Nessa in 2021, was among those listed for deportation. He ambushed her in a park, struck her over the head with a metal traffic sign, strangled her, and partially undressed her. Sentenced to a minimum of 36 years in prison, he later stabbed a guard in Broadmoor using a shard of porcelain from a broken toilet. The cost of keeping him in Broadmoor for the next 34 years exceeds £1.3 million, while his imprisonment in Albania would cost just £400,000—raising serious questions about the financial logic of keeping such criminals in Britain.

 

Despite Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama dismissing the issue as involving only “a few bad apples,” Albanian criminal gangs are responsible for much of the UK’s cocaine and marijuana trade, often using extreme violence and human trafficking. Social media platforms, particularly TikTok, are flooded with advertisements offering illegal passage to the UK: “Go to England. £4,000. With boats. Every day,” reads one example exposed by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network. Another states: “Departures every day. We can take families also. You come today and leave tomorrow.”

 

While the UK government claims to be taking action, the Ministry of Justice has been unable to explain why so few Albanians have been deported. Bureaucratic red tape in Albania is reportedly delaying the process, frustrating Whitehall officials. However, considering that over £4 million has already been handed to Albania, these delays appear unacceptable.

 

In an attempt to highlight progress, the UK government has pointed to its broader deportation efforts, stating that 2,925 foreign offenders have been removed since Labour took office—a 21% increase compared to the previous year. Among them were 1,610 Albanian criminals deported under the Early Removal Scheme (ERS), a system that allows foreign prisoners to be released up to 18 months early. However, this also means they serve less time than British criminals convicted of similar offences, weakening deterrence.

 

Even more controversially, those deported under the ERS received £1,500 each as a "resettlement grant," administered by the Home Office. If they had family members, such as a spouse or children, they too could claim the grant and have their flights paid for. An additional £500 was provided for “vulnerable” offenders, such as those with mental health issues. Critics argue that, rather than serving as a deterrent, these financial incentives make deportation an attractive option.

 

Worse still, many deported criminals have simply returned to the UK. Ardit Binaj was deported in 2016 after serving just six months of a two-and-a-half-year sentence but illegally re-entered the country within months. In 2023, he successfully appealed to stay in the UK, citing his “right to family life” under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Others openly admit to coming back. When BBC reporters spoke to Albanian deportees at Tirana airport, one shrugged and said: “It’s not a problem for me. I’ll go back whenever I want.”

 

Ultimately, the UK finds itself paying on both ends—funding Albania to take back criminals while also paying criminals to leave. With only eight criminals deported under the scheme, the British public is left footing a bill that delivers little in return.

 

Based on a report by Daily Mail  2025-03-29

 

 

A failed state with a failed justice system. 

And yet the OP also tells us the Labour Government have deported 1610 other Albanian offenders.

While 2925 foreign offenders have been deported, an increase in 21 % from last year.

 

So let’s focus on the 8 individual problematic cases.

 

In terms of deporting Albanian criminals this is a bit of a ‘Glass 0.5% empty’ story.

 

 

50 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

And yet the OP also tells us the Labour Government have deported 1610 other Albanian offenders.

While 2925 foreign offenders have been deported, an increase in 21 % from last year.

 

So let’s focus on the 8 individual problematic cases.

 

In terms of deporting Albanian criminals this is a bit of a ‘Glass 0.5% empty’ story.

 

 

Yes ok, lets focus on the cost of £530k EACH!

The only thing they would get from me is a parachute

Not only have the Labour Government increased the deportation of foreigner offenders by 21% over last years numbers, they’re also massively outperforming the previous Government’s failed Rwanda Scheme which flushed away £700 million of tax payers money for 4 deportations.

 

A shocking £175,000,000 per person deported).

 

More can be done, but the improvements so far in deportations and savings to the public purse are all in the right direction.

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/22/world/europe/uk-rwanda-deportation-plan.html

1 minute ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Not only have the Labour Government increased the deportation of foreigner offenders by 21% over last years numbers, they’re also massively outperforming the previous Government’s failed Rwanda Scheme which flushed away £700 million of tax payers money for 4 deportations.

 

A shocking £175,000,000 per person deported).

 

More can be done, but the improvements so far in deportations and savings to the public purse are all in the right direction.

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/22/world/europe/uk-rwanda-deportation-plan.html

Deflection

 

Do you pay tax in the UK? I do and do not want to have some of it going to pay £530k EACH. Its an absolute disgrace

4 hours ago, Serenity_Now said:

The only thing they would get from me is a parachute

Serviceable or unserviceable?

Seems that many have been deported, but seem able to come straight back with little impediment.  What a mess the UK has gotten itself into, with little sign of anything else other than cherry-picking statistics by  all parties and media outlets for political reasons.  Shambles.

14% of Albanians already have criminal records in the UK.

Lee Anderson asked the Albanian Consulate why they prefer to pay people smugglers £6000 to cross the channel when you can get a flight from Tirana for £28.

He didn't know the answer but everyone else does.

Garbage. 1000’s have been deported 

6 hours ago, JonnyF said:

A failed state with a failed justice system. 

Yeah, same as US

This I wrote this morning:

 

This article gives only a part of the whole picture.

 

The right wing parties are not coming out of the blue.

 

It's already a creeping process since the last 20 years, culminating in 2015, and very imminent, when refugees and asylum seekers swept uncontrolled over Europe.

 

People in all European countries were afraid to see cuts in social benefits or lack of appropriate housing. The government's spending in supporting those "strangers" were rising exceptionally.

 

People didn't cope with "strange" cultures and values and the new neighbors.

 

These refugees are not sharing our history, culture, values, rules, customs.

 

Some try to assimilate and to achieve education and a good job, but the majority exploit the community. 

 

These are the moments right wing parties get their momentum by claiming to stop people from entering their countries and to defend the borders of Europe, which is not easy because of the Geneve convention. 

 

The very crucial obstacle is that those refugees know our laws. They can't be deported back if the proposed receiving country will deny to take them back.

 

So, even there are hundreds of thousand immigrants to deport it's impossible.

 

So that is the right wings mantra: out with them! Knowing it's impossible by EU and humanitarian rules and laws 

 

People in Europe want a change but a solution is only possible with receiving countries, which means money.

 

There are agreements with Tunesia and Turkey, but what about Syria, Afghanistan, and others?

 

We in Europe are the "pull factor". Our life and social benefits (even only securing the minimum) are triggering people from all poor countries to go for the long and sometimes deadly road to Europe.

 

What to do?

 

If we can't protect the entry then we have to invest in those countries where they are coming from to improve their daily life there. Building schools, hospitals, infrastructure, productions and stop corruption at the same time.

 

Lots to do if you want to diminish the influence of the right wing parties.🙏

 

 

6 hours ago, Serenity_Now said:

The only thing they would get from me is a parachute

Maybe a big umbrella?

25 minutes ago, mikeymike100 said:

Maybe a big umbrella?

or a surplus rubber dingy with a slow puncture

2 hours ago, newbee2022 said:

This I wrote this morning:

 

This article gives only a part of the whole picture.

 

The right wing parties are not coming out of the blue.

 

It's already a creeping process since the last 20 years, culminating in 2015, and very imminent, when refugees and asylum seekers swept uncontrolled over Europe.

 

People in all European countries were afraid to see cuts in social benefits or lack of appropriate housing. The government's spending in supporting those "strangers" were rising exceptionally.

 

People didn't cope with "strange" cultures and values and the new neighbors.

 

These refugees are not sharing our history, culture, values, rules, customs.

 

Some try to assimilate and to achieve education and a good job, but the majority exploit the community. 

 

These are the moments right wing parties get their momentum by claiming to stop people from entering their countries and to defend the borders of Europe, which is not easy because of the Geneve convention. 

 

The very crucial obstacle is that those refugees know our laws. They can't be deported back if the proposed receiving country will deny to take them back.

 

So, even there are hundreds of thousand immigrants to deport it's impossible.

 

So that is the right wings mantra: out with them! Knowing it's impossible by EU and humanitarian rules and laws 

 

People in Europe want a change but a solution is only possible with receiving countries, which means money.

 

There are agreements with Tunesia and Turkey, but what about Syria, Afghanistan, and others?

 

We in Europe are the "pull factor". Our life and social benefits (even only securing the minimum) are triggering people from all poor countries to go for the long and sometimes deadly road to Europe.

 

What to do?

 

If we can't protect the entry then we have to invest in those countries where they are coming from to improve their daily life there. Building schools, hospitals, infrastructure, productions and stop corruption at the same time.

 

Lots to do if you want to diminish the influence of the right wing parties.🙏

 

 

“It's already a creeping process since the last 20 years, culminating in 2015, and very imminent, when refugees and asylum seekers swept uncontrolled over Europe.”

 

There was nothing ‘uncontrolled’ about it:

https://www.hoover.org/research/weaponization-migration-powerful-instrument-russias-hybrid-toolbox

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35706238.amp

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

“It's already a creeping process since the last 20 years, culminating in 2015, and very imminent, when refugees and asylum seekers swept uncontrolled over Europe.”

 

There was nothing ‘uncontrolled’ about it:

https://www.hoover.org/research/weaponization-migration-powerful-instrument-russias-hybrid-toolbox

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35706238.amp

Obviously you are too young or far too old. Check your news of that time 2015.

9 hours ago, Serenity_Now said:

The only thing they would get from me is a parachute

Why, let 'em fall.

On a plane back to Albania after a year in UK jail in solitary.

Surely the UK border force or Albanian Immigration could catch them returning. If not, why not.

I cannot get my Thai Mrs into UK very easily.