Violent Albanian gangland mobsters are hiding in vans, using Rolexes and hiring fake tourists to send dirty money back home to be used on a life of luxury.

At the end of last year there were almost 1,100 Albanians in jail including murderers, rapists and feared Balkan mafia kingpins. Just three were women.

As well as controlling the drug trade, Albanian gangsters terrorising the UK have also been convicted of murder, sex offences, money laundering and people smuggling.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) has for years warned about the 'significant threat' posed by Albanian gangs, infamous for their professionalism and discipline as well as savage tactics to keep competition at bay.

Ruthless Albanian gangs have come to dominate the British drug trade, negotiating directly with Colombian cartels and undercutting criminal rivals to flood Britain's streets with cheap cocaine.

The flow of money back to Albania is a growing concern to the NCA. Its fears have increased so much that last year the agency signed a deal with Albania anti-organised crime bureau SPAK that will see the unit hunt for the assets of Albanians convicted in the UK. 

In 2010, just 1.5 per cent of foreign nationals jailed in England and Wales were Albanian. 

But by the end of 2024 Albanians made up 10.6 per cent – more than any other nationality.

The swelling numbers of Albanians are in part due to large numbers crossing the channel, with a total of 12,685 coming to Britain on small boats in 2022. 

The rate has, however, fallen since ministers signed a prisoner transfer agreement with Albania's government in 2022. 

Under Rishi Sunak, 200 were deported in exchange for £8million to modernise their prison system.

Labour has vowed to deport foreign criminals faster, saying it 'cannot be right' for taxpayers to foot the bill.

It is thought to cost around £40,000 a year to house each prisoner, suggesting that the UK spends £44million on locking up Albanian criminals.

As crime gangs seek to move their money back home, they are known to hide money in delivery vans which travel between the two countries.

An insider in the Albanian community in the UK said the sheer number of vans and lorries making the Dover crossing each day means criminals can hide in plain sight transporting hidden stashes of money in amongst the goods.

In one case in 2021, police seized £123,000 hidden in a bumper of a van transporting goods from the UK.

Olsa Sefolli was arrested in Albania after an X-ray found 10 packages concealed within his white Mercedes van.

He was accused of laundering money gained from criminal activities and for not declaring money at the border crossing. Police also found guns hidden in the van. 

Speaking at the time, Edi Merkaj, the former Director of the Department for Border and Migration in Albanian State Police said: 'Controls by the Albanian border police and custom authorities, punch another case identified in illegality in the transport of monetary values. 

Sefolli said: 'The owner of this van should give an explanation for the money, not me. He has three vans. I count only for goods inside who are visible. How could I know what has been hidden? I do not get the salary but I get paid for each journey I do'.

Olsi Sefolli told the prosecutor that he went to Ankona port in North Italy and did get the van. 'From the UK van was driven by a different driver' he said.

According to Albanian police, the van belonged to a company based in Luton under  Guxim Sefolli.

In an Albanian court, he was given a nine-month suspended sentence for not declaring the money.

Guxim Sefolli told the court he had migrated to the UK in 2010 and had worked for seven years in the black market, as he was an illegal migrant with no documents to stay in the UK.

He was planning to invest the money in an apartment in the city of Vlora in southern Albania.

He admitted to hiding the money in the van, saying his cousin Olsa was unaware of the money.  

There are more than 30 companies registered in the UK which transport items such as clothes and furniture to Albania.

Inside the Albanian community in the UK, a source said it is well known that some of these companies smuggle money out of the country.

In another case at Bari port in Italy, police discovered £225,000 hidden in the roof of a van.

Ansa Italian News Agency reported that the money was sealed in vacuumed bags and that the driver was en route to Albania.

Customs staff in Bari said that cars with UK plates and Albanian drivers are often stopped at the port, adding that trips such as these are made 'weekly'.  

Another way that gangs use to smuggle the money out of the UK is by employing couriers to pose as tourists, in order to sneak the money out through commercial airports, trains and ferries.

The couriers are given money to make the journey and wads of cash totalling around £20,000 to take with them back to Albania.

In 2018, mother and son Suzanna Sokolli and Xhino Mata from Albania were caught in Dover with £40,000 hidden in a pair of woman's tights.

They were both jailed at Canterbury Crown Court for more than three years.

Mata, who claimed he was going to France and Milan, said that he had £7,000 and produced a bag full of banknotes.

A handbag was found with several large bundles of cash inside the lining.

Sokolli was then searched and officers found more cash in a pair of beige tights wrapped around her waist.

She claimed the money was her life savings and said she was hoping to use it to start a business.

She claimed she had previously been robbed and felt it was safer to have it on her person.

Officers ended up seizing more than £40,000 from the pair.

In another case, Albanian husband and wife Ardian Sharra, 51, and Valbona Laloshi, 41, from Tring were stopped at the Channel Tunnel in Kent by NCA officers. 

The couple declared they had £5,000 with them, claiming it as to pay for dental treatment in Italy.

However, officers found an extra £14,000 stashed in a handbag and a further £200,000 hidden in a rucksack in the car boot.

A search of the couple's home found a number of document which detailed large cash deposits into the couple's bank accounts.  

The gangs have also been known to transport money using Rolexes.

An insider in the Albanian community in the UK said the gangs will buy the expensive watches and sell them for £2,000 to £3,000 less in Albania.

The insider said this tactic was used because travellers wearing a Rolex are less likely to be stopped by border control officers. 

Criminal gangs are also thought to now be using cryptocurrency to transfer money between the two countries. 

The money is then used to by earned from Albanian crime in UK are invested in Albania in properties, luxury bars, luxury cars. The insider said this is how the money is washed.  

In recent weeks, the SPAK applied for permission to freeze the assets of drug kingpin Ermal Biba. 

Biba was sentenced in August 2023 by the Crown Court in Leeds, UK, to 13 years and six months in prison. 

According to the court, he had organized the supply of at least 5kg of cocaine in Harrogate between September 2019 and May 2022 and, along with his associates, produced 144kg of cannabis.

British authorities estimate that Biba and his accomplices made a financial profit of £1.48million from drug trafficking.

Ermal Biba was the head of an organized network that included several Albanians, a British national, and a Polish citizen, all involved in drug trafficking in Harrogate, Yorkshire.

In December 2024, a judge at the Crown Court in Leeds issued a seizure order against Biba's assets.

SPAK has now seized Biba's two-story house in Lezha and a Mercedes-Benz SLK, as well as freezing all monetary assets, properties and bank accounts in Albania held from illicit gains.

An NCA spokesperson said: 'Members of Albania's law enforcement agencies are crucial partners in the NCA's fight against serious and organised crime and in our mission to protect the UK public. 

'In February 2024, the NCA and SPAK signed a memorandum of understanding which deepened our commitment to work together for the benefit of both nations.' 

(Source: The Daily Mail)