In November, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said Albanian crime gangs are smuggling hundreds of millions of pounds a year out of the UK and using Channel crossings to staff cannabis farms. Requesting anonymity, he said: Youd be walking home and feel a little prick on your leg and later you realised youd been stabbed by one of the Albanian kids.. Other images on their social media channels showed a cake laden with 50 notes as well as footage of gang-members in prison rapping about violent attacks. The Hellbanianz gang, based in Barking, east London, are understood to traffic millions of pounds worth of drugs into the UK each year. Albanians account for around a third of the almost 40,000 people who have arrived in small boats so far this year, according to UK government figures. Work independently liaising closely . 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. Seizures of cocaine have risen as the drug has flooded into the UK in recent years. After that they are big in Manchester. If you were black and went there youd come out in an ambulance, said David, a former resident. Richard Spillett for MailOnline Welcoming the court success, Chris Farrimond, the NCAs deputy director of investigations, said: We believe this individual was a high ranking member of a significant organised crime group involved in a range of serious criminality that was impacting upon the UK. O'Doherty claims drug gangs on the estate have been targeting people with empty bedrooms to sell from. Enter your password to log in. "Tragically, however, this was often accompanied by lethal violence as these young gangs fought their own wars for territory and custom. The Hood Life video shows gang members surrounding a Met patrol car. Albania's drug crime is now a European problem on whatsapp (opens in a new . Gangster Bledar Muca (39) was previously caught on CCTV in 2016 using a. Their only option has been to buy cocaine sourced from the Mafia Shqiptare. ", Get email updates with the day's biggest stories. The police raid was part of an operation to disrupt a "rent-a-gun" scheme for criminals in south-east England. STEPHEN Don't just stick to the Malbec! They follow an ancient code of honour called besa, which is essentially their code of conduct. omething had kicked off the night before and the guys on the corner were keen to offer advice. A Cocaine grower in Colombia. The Hellbanianz gang, based in Barking, eastLondon, are understood to traffic millions of pounds worth of drugs into the UK each year. Such antics help explain why Albanians are the third largest foreign nationality in UK prisons. The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to undo a 2020 . But it is across the Atlantic, to the jungles of Latin America, where the story of the Mafia Shqiptare starts. Last month Operation Pollino, named after the area of southern Italy where the Ndrangheta has its roots, arrested 90 suspects. The judgment on B9s case by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission states that Albanian crime in Britain began to emerge following the war in Kosovo of 1998 and 1999 after which large numbers of Albanians who claimed falsely to be Kosovan Albanians came to Britain to live. If you violate besa there will be effects of that back in Albania, Paul Radu, Co-Director of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, tells producer and reporter Matt Shea. . In the crumpled car, officers found a suitcase full of cocaine and later, at the 29-year-olds home, another 21kg of the drug and a Skorpion machine pistol with a silencer. Live news updates from February 20: Biden makes surprise visit to Kyiv, UK junior doctors vote to strike over pay . The gang became notorious in 2017 after it began releasing rap videos bragging about the money they earned from drug dealing and other criminal activities. Now a London-based Albanian gangs expert has lifted the lid on how criminals from his countrymen dominate the capital and Manchester's coke trade. It was also told that gangster wrongly told Border Force officers in Ashford that Mason, who is currently abroad on the run and wanted for recall to prison, was his uncle after being stopped as he drove a Bentley Bentayga on a trip to Albania and also lied about his wifes nationality. A search of the property also uncovered drugs worth 6million. Analyse, interpret and report research findings. This created a breeding ground for organised gangs. 08:40, 27 FEB 2023. But five months ago Rookwood House was knocked down as part of a sweeping regeneration project. According to the 2021 UN World Drug Report, Albania was the planet's. The expert said that many of the gangsters use their wealth to set up cannabis farms and security firms to work as bouncers in the UK. Albanians have become the third largest group of organised criminals in the country by nationality in the last three years, increasing their share of the market by 42 per cent. Specialist autoclave manufacturer Priorclave has voluntarily accepted to adhere to the London Living Wage. 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In the opposite direction, several miles along the Thames, lie the mammoth container ports where their cocaine is offloaded in multi-kilo shipments. They claim to have commercial pilots and Colombian air traffic controllers on their payroll. Lewis was jailed in 2004 at a time when the estates Albanian population was growing through a new refugee crisis following fresh unrest in Kosovo, five years after the war there brought the first arrivals. Albanian drug gang flaunts proceeds from evil UK trade | UK | News | Express.co.uk, Instagram later took down five of the Hellbanianz accounts. The proximity of the . She said the gangsters often hang out in the communal areas and make their presence known to everyone in the vicinity. View our online Press Pack. We pay for videos too. MyLondon reports that several months back, O'Doherty was woken late at night by her dog barking before things took an unpleasant turn. Five Albanians have been murdered in the past year as gangs tighten their grip on the UK cocaine market Source The Telegraph Open warfare between Albanian criminals is being waged on the streets of London as they attempt to increase their drug-dealing territory Yet even the most senior Albanians are caught sometimes. [2] The . How Albanians came to conquer the UKs cocaine market is a lesson in criminal savvy; the value of making friends with the worlds most dangerous mafias; and the absolute threat of violence. The four men, who are all from Albania, were remanded in custody to appear at Isleworth Crown Court next month, Some four kilograms of cocaine were recovered by search teams. They will have a driver, a minder and a cash collector. LONDON (AP) Chelsea striker Armando Broja is set to miss the rest of the season after rupturing a knee ligament, the Premier League club said Wednesday. Albania's top police officer took to the stage in February 2018 to announce a milestone in his force's fight against drugs: the seizure of 613 kilograms of cocaine hidden among bananas arriving from Latin America. @ martinbentham. The defendants also laundered tens of millions of dollars in narcotics proceeds. You dont want to be hanging around here too long, one said, refusing to elaborate. The National Crime Agency has begun an investigation after a series of drug seizures were made from passengers flying into Heathrow Airport from Los Angeles in the United States. Daisy O'Doherty says she was woken in her Barking flat by a police officer pointing a gun at her and described herself as a 'target' of the Hellbanianz gang who try to intimidate locals. It is likely a large portion of that would have ended up in London had it not been seized by local authorities. Just last weekend an Albanian man using a fake British passport was shot six times near his apartment by two hit men. Albanian drug gangs are everywhere in the UK but not in Liverpool. Some of their higher end drug dealers, international traders, dont like this behaviour. Just over 11,000 Albania ns arrived in those five months, compared with 815 in 2020, the figures showed. Earlier the court was given the names of around a dozen of the gangsters criminal associates, many of whom have been convicted of drug or human trafficking offences. It's frightening for O'Doherty, who has lived on the estate for over two decades, because evidence of the violent threat these groups possess is clear to see, as she explained: "I found a knife round the back of my block. You can stream Criminal Planet on All 4 now for free here. He was screaming at me to 'get in'. Saggers says the backdrop of the Kosovo conflict has given them a swagger comparable to that of Irish criminals during and after the Troubles. How the Albanian Mafia Controls Cocaine Supply in London In our new All 4 show "Criminal Planet", we investigate the deadly alliance between Albania and Colombia's biggest coke clan. In one house, officers recovereda bag with approximately 100,000 in cash inside. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved legislation allowing non-profits to open and operate overdose prevention sites with private funding, Mayor London Breed announced in a news release. The map shows a cluster of gangs in Camberwell, south east London, including Moscow17, which Incognito belonged to. NEW YORK Thirty-seven members and associates of an international ethnic-Albanian organized crime group were arrested for trafficking cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy (MDMA) and prescription drugs. He said: "At the collapse of communism around 1991, Albania entered a period of political, social and economic turmoil. 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