Shkoder-based group would smuggle people with forged documents and training for prices ranging from 5,000 euro for the UK and $20,000 for North America.
SHKODER, May 3 – Police have arrested five people involved in a human trafficking ring that charged up to $20,000 for smuggling Albanian migrants into North America and the United Kingdom, using forged documents.
Police said the arrests came after an operation that lasted several months and involved undercover police officers. Those arrested were based in the northwestern Shkodra region and Tirana.
They have been charged with being part of a well-structured criminal organization involved in human trafficking.
Police said the group focused particularly on countries where Albanian require a visa to visit — Great Britain, the United States and Canada – for prices ranging from 5,000 euros for the UK and $20,000 for North America.
The ring would usually supply the migrants with forged Italian documents and train them on how to behave at border crossings. The migrants would fly to Italy on their Albanian passports and then on to their final destinations using the forged Italian papers, police said.
During the operation, police also found two laboratories for forging documents, a handgun and several foreign passports, identity cards and other documents.
Authorities have repeatedly called on the people not to fall prey to trafficking rings as a renewed wave of economic migration has hit Albania as the economy stagnates and jobs are scarce.
In addition to this case, hundreds of Albanians have asked for asylum in Germany and other Schengen area countries, where Albanians can travel without visas. It is also part of a larger trend in the region that has some countries threatening to reinstall the visa regime Albanians have been free of in the past 5-6 years.
In an effort to stop the illegal migration trend and protect the visa-free regime Albania has with much of Western Europe, Albanian authorities have turned back hundreds of would-be travelers over the past month.
Authorities conduct a risk assessment includes seeking hard copy documents such as proof of host and proof of funds that were once not typically requested to leave the country. They are usually demanded from whom authorities see as people of high-risk of seeking asylum.
Albania has a long history of emigration since 1990. More than a third of the country’s citizens now live elsewhere.
