Albanian ‘killers’ take shelter in Britain

TIRANA, Jan 26 – The British media reported a worrying story on Albania last weekend.
The island’s media reported of concerns from Albanian police head Ahmet Prenci on Albanian murder suspects who receive refuge in Britain.
Prenci was reported to have said that only a “fraction” of at least 80 Albanian murder suspects thought to be living in the UK are here, adding he was trying to track down 100 criminals in Britain.
But a Home Office spokesman said: “Only a fraction of those criminals thought by Albanian authorities to be here are actually in the UK.”
It was acknowledged that eighty convicted murderers have set up home in Britain after fleeing Albania.
Many of the killers have allegedly exploited the asylum system to gain UK citizenship after being smuggled into the country by traffickers.
Prenci complained that British courts were hampering his country’s efforts to have these criminals extradited.
“We have made a list of our people who are hiding in the UK. There are 100 criminals, and more than 80 per cent are wanted for murder and have been convicted in absentia,” Prenci said.
“They have been given British citizenship despite our efforts to extradite them to serve prison sentences in our country.”
“We are unhappy that the courts repeatedly refuse extradition of these criminals. There is no reason for an Albanian citizen who has been involved in a crime not to be punished,” Prenci said.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We will not tolerate abuse of our immigration system. If someone has obtained citizenship by deceit, for example by posing as a national of another country, the law allows us to take citizenship away – and we will.”