Albania installs cameras along border with Kosovo to curb migrants, criminal gangs

Albania has installed a highly sophisticated “network of cameras along its border with Kosovo, provided by the British government, in a bid to curb the number of migrants heading towards the United Kingdom and track criminal activity in the region. The announcement was made Wednesday by British authorities.

According to British authorities and local Albanian media, Albanian citizens were among the 45,000 people who arrived in Great Britain with barbecues in 2022, seeking a better paid job compared to neighbouring countries like Greece or Italy. Many end up working in cannabis cultivation homes for up to two years to pay money owed to traffickers.

Top British officials have earlier called the influxs of Albanians “invasion”, which caused diplomatic tensions with Tirana, which accused them of being “singled out” Albanians for “political goals”.

The newly installed network, which has cost 1.86m euros, includes a fleet of drones and cameras used to identify car plates.

The Drons will enable authorities to track migrants passing through mountainous areas of northern Albania, which police find difficult to monitor, while cameras will help Albanian systems identify the British vehicles used by criminals seeking to avoid detection by local police, an emaild statement sent by the Associated Press Agency from the British Embassy in Tirana said.

British Minister Against Illegal Migration Michael Tomlinson, who was in Tirana, held talks Tuesday with interior ministers from Albania and Kosovo, Taulant Balla and Xhelal Svecla, on joint efforts to fight “illegal migration” respectively.

Mr. Thompson said that partnership with Albania is “a reference point for the way we want to work with partners at a global level”, adding that almost no Albanian is already arriving in the United Kingdom in small boats.

“We have produced excellent results not only in reducing illegal migration to the United Kingdom, but also in helping to provide opportunities for Albanians to stay and progress in their country. Our work of stopping ships does not start on the canal of La Manshi it begins from the” source, he said.

Albanians cannot apply for asylum in UK.

In 2022, London and Tirana signed an agreement on the return of Albanians who arrived by boat to the country. It is believed that thousands have returned since that period, although official figures are not available.

Albania currently in negotiations to become part of the European Union has hit human trafficking gangs in the country, although it is not a major route for immigrants.

In 2019, Albania became the first non-member country of the European Union to have officers of the bloc's border agency, Frontex, managing its borders in the south and east of the country, where immigrants usually cross. So did they engage in the fight against cross-border crime.

In February, Albania's parliament approved an agreement for the country to retain the thousands of asylum seekers coming from Italy. / VOA