Albanian parents smuggle children in British drug trade

The number of Albanian youths being illegally trafficked to Great Britain on promise to win thousands of pounds from the sale and drug transport for gangs is on the rise.

Data from courts shows that teenage Albanians who mostly entered the United Kingdom hidden in trucks have been prosecuted in cities across the country -- from Seklick to Bath, Deusbury to Shreasbury and London -- after being caught with drugs worth up to 200,000 pounds.

According to the National Crime Agency, Albania is the single largest foreign source of trafficking in people in the United Kingdom, with 947 cases in 2018 -- an increase of more than 50 per cent since 2015.

The majority of Albanian boys and youth are trafficked with their parents' agreement and the promise of financial reward from traffickers”, said Steve Harvey, an international law enforcement specialist who has presented his evidence in an internal Office investigation about the problem.

“Family members have been approached by traffickers and engaged on the basis of how they will benefit financially from the deal. Moreover, families are traffickers, and children are seen and used as resources. ”

“Traffickers and users promise them money, a lot of money, and they promise them a job or when boys are minor they promise them shelter, or clothes, things they need to have,” an anonymous source told the home of Return office.

On several occasions, family members were directly responsible for recruiting and exploiting male trafficking victims. ”

Gangsters, especially the Helbanianz street band of Albanian boys in southern London, promote their lifestyle among teenagers in their home country through social media.

Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers, a specialist for Albanians at Bournemouth University, said “bling-bling” is essential: “sending home success messages to their colleagues. Messages containing an abundance of money, quick cars, females, gold necklaces, and Rolex hours, including weapons and powers. ”

However, she noted that there were also children sent by their families to have a chance for a good and future education. This too means that there is a lucrative trade in smuggling gangs that can charge families up to 15,000 pounds to take their children to the United Kingdom, according to police sources.

Anti-Trafficants always have recruits ready because parents want their children to go abroad and they and they are sending younger and younger,” said in an Interior Office report on a fact-finding mission about Albania.

The typical case is Andrew Visaj, who entered the United Kingdom illegally at the age of 16, hiding in a truck that took him to Solle in Midlands.

Now, 18, he is serving a four-year prison sentence for cocaine sales.

He was caught in a car park in Bilston, running a BMW in which police officers found two blocks of high-quality cocaine worth 200,000 pounds, 55,500 pounds of cash ready, as well as his 1,000 pay for the job.

It was used more than the user and was waiting for further instructions after collecting drugs in London and money from a man who came into the car to Bilston with a bag,” told his lawyer.

Another is Klevis Drage, 20, caught with 11 cocaine wraps in Moorgate, London, and imprisoned for 18 months, who claimed to have been forced to distribute drugs by a member of Albania's mafia after entering the United Kingdom illegally in the back of a truck.

Alfred Hamzaj, 22, was imprisoned for eight months for drug sales in Deusbury, western Yorkshire, after being caught with four kilograms of cannabis. He claimed he had been involved in crime after losing his job in a handwashing vehicle because of his illegal immigration status.

These dangers arise from a case of asylum that has been presented to a parliamentary committee. Adnan, a 16-year-old homeless in his eastern Albania after his new stepfather took him out, came to the United Kingdom because his parents had lived here when he was little.

In his appeal for asylum, he said: “I cannot return [to Albania] because I have no one. Nobody cared about me. I want to continue my schooling. If I come back, I'll be left on the street. I don't know how I'm gonna handle it. “

He lost his appeal, and was told he would be deported. A day after his interview in the [innerland] Adnan disappeared from custody, probably walking to London,” told the committee.

“instead of living on the streets of Albania, he is now a child without documents on the streets of the United Kingdom. ”/lapsy. al