Home Office deports 23 foreign criminals back to Albania

The foreign national offenders removed had received combined prison sentences of more than 55 years for multiple serious crimes, including drug dealing and immigration offences.

Those returned on a flight today include one man arrested for an offence in June.

When he was questioned, he admittedentering the UK in the back of a lorry in 2021 and then disappearing and living here illegally.

Another man on the removals flight had been smuggled into the UK on board a yacht in 2021.

He had also disappeared and was living the UK illegally, until he was arrested recently on suspicion of driving offences.

Among others deported, a man sentenced to five and a half years imprisonment for intent to supply Class A drugs.

And an individual sentenced to three years and four months’ in prison for the production of Class B drugs.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “These criminals are responsible for appalling drug offences, which destroy lives, families and communities. They have violated our laws and our values, leaving their victims living with the scars of their crimes.

“The British public should be in no doubt of my determination to remove them by all available means to make our streets safer.”

The Home Office saidsince March last year, more than 10,000 people had been removed by both scheduled and charter flights, with 86 flights in total, to 13 different countries.