The victory for Priti Patel as an Albanian murderer who earned £ 40,000 a year from car washing – and was once on Interpol’s most wanted list – is finally being deported after five years
- Selami Cokaj, 47, fled to the UK after escaping prison in Albania, where he was detained in 1994 for stabbing a man
- He was sent back to his homeland in 2009 but snuck back to the UK in 2015 before starting several companies and living openly in Leicester
- Albanians make up the largest number of foreign nationals in British prisons, accounting for 16 percent of foreign offenders
An Albanian murderer who raked in more than £ 40,000 a year from a car wash was finally deported to secure a legal victory for Home Secretary Priti Patel.
Selami Cokaj, once on Interpol’s Most Wanted List, fled to the UK after escaping prison in Albania, where he was jailed in 1994 for stabbing a man.
He was sent back to his homeland in 2009 but snuck back to the UK in 2015 before starting several companies and living openly in Leicester.
Now, after five years, the 47-year-old has been deported to Albania.
In a speech from Albania’s capital Tirana, where she signed a treaty to strengthen deportation regulations last week, the interior minister told The Mail on Sunday: “I do not apologize for trying to remove dangerous foreign criminals for the sake of the protect british public.
An Albanian murderer who raked in more than £ 40,000 a year from a car wash was finally deported to secure a legal victory for Home Secretary Priti Patel. Selami Cokaj (above), once on Interpol’s Most Wanted List, fled to the UK after escaping prison in Albania, where he was detained in 1994 for stabbing a man
In a speech from Albania’s capital Tirana, where she signed a treaty to strengthen deportation regulations last week, the Interior Minister (pictured earlier this year) told The Mail on Sunday: “I do not apologize for trying to get dangerous foreigners Remove criminals to protect the UK public. “‘
“So far this year, more than 1,000 foreign criminals have been deported, and more are being deported every week.
“Too many perpetrators make unjustified and opportunistic claims to stop or delay their deportation. This cannot go on. ‘
She added: “I am here in Tirana, signing a new contract that will allow us to deport Albanian nationals who have committed some of the most heinous crimes and who have abused our hospitality.
“Mail on Sunday readers rightly expect us to take tough action and they will be encouraged to know that this government is accelerating the removal of these dangerous foreign offenders.
“Since April we have sent back over 250 Albanian criminals.”
Albanians make up the largest number of foreign nationals in British prisons, accounting for 16 percent of foreign offenders.
The latest figures show that the number of Albanians imprisoned has almost doubled from 876 in August 2019 to 1,574 in March this year.
Based on the current rate of £ 44,600 a year to keep an offender in prison, it is estimated that the prison service will spend around £ 70 million a year keeping Albanians behind bars.
On her trip to Tirana, the Interior Minister met with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama (above) to discuss crackdown on organized criminal groups behind drug trafficking, illegal funding and organized immigration crime in the UK
The criminal gangs of the Balkan state are known around the world for drug trafficking and production and play a leading role in people smuggling into the UK.
Ms. Patel’s new deal will allow the government to remove Albanian criminals more quickly under the proposed Law on Citizenship and Boundaries.
This allows foreign crooks to be deported from prisons one year before their prison term expires instead of nine months, which means they can serve the remainder of their sentence in their own country’s prisons.
The new measure comes after the government signed an agreement with Albania in 2013 for the deportation of detained criminals – six years later, only 24 of them were deported.
The government has deported 254 Albanian criminals from the UK since April and another 85 without the right to reside in that country, but a number of the Eastern European nation’s criminals have been able to stay in the UK after falsely claiming refugee status after the war in Kosovo which ended in 1999.
On her trip to Tirana, the Interior Minister met with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to discuss action against organized criminal groups behind drug trafficking, illegal funding and organized immigration crime in the UK.
