A terrifying store of firearms destined for Albanian gangs waging turf wars in Britain have been seized by police in Tirana, Albania on Thursday.
Glock pistols and a Kalashnikov assault rifle were among the 25 weapons discovered during a police raid.
The firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were reportedly meant to be shipped to Albanian gangs in the UK who are marking their territory in an ongoing turf war over drugs and prostitution in London.
Five people were arrested following the discovery of the weapons this week in Tirana, and warrants have been issued for the arrest of three more men in the UK who are believed to be linked to the gang.
Among those arrested was the leader of the criminal group.
A terrifying store of firearms destined for Albanian gangs waging turf wars in Britain have been seized by police in Tirana, Albania on Thursday
Glock pistols and a Kalashnikov assault rifle were among the 25 weapons discovered
Albanian police has been working with the UK’s National Crime agency to tackle crime in the Tropoja region in northern Albania.
This comes as officials at the Foreign Office and Home Office jointly launched ‘Crime State Nexus’ to target organised criminals from the Balkans back in May.
Details of the operation were revealed in Government court papers relating to a legal battle over a decision to ban former Albanian president Sali Berisha from the UK.
Albanian gangs were described in the legal documents as an ‘acute threat’ to Britain by being ‘highly prevalent across serious and organised crime’ through their involvement in the UK cocaine market, people smuggling and sex trafficking.
The papers also cited data showing Albanians are by far the biggest foreign nationality in UK prisons, making up in one eight of all incarcerated criminals.
The firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were reportedly meant to be shipped to Albanian gangs in the UK
Albanian gangs are becoming more and more active in London
Mobsters from the Balkan state are said to be involved in prostitution and drug smuggling
Just before Rishi Sunak announced a surprise summer election for July 4, the then Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron visited Tirana to discuss initiatives to help Albania crack down on gangs smuggling people across the English Channel and fuelling drugs crime in the UK.
After a spike in 2022 in the number of Albanian nationals arriving in the UK in small boats, the governments of both nations struck an agreement to work together to prevent people from making the journey.
This included placing UK Border Force staff in Tirana airport, the exchange of senior police officers and the creation of a joint migration taskforce.
It is likely this contributed to a 93 per cent drop in Albanians crossing the Channel, down from 12,658 in 2022 to 922 between January 1 and November 29, 2023.
Under the returns agreement, the UK has removed 26,000 people over the last year including nearly 6,000 Albanians, the Foreign Office said.
Also in May, Britain handed Albania £1.6million of cameras and drones in a bid to catch Channel people-smuggling gangs.
Last year, a United Nations report revealed that gangs from the Balkan state now ‘exert considerable control’ over the supply of cocaine, with a judge warning that cannabis run by Albanian criminal networks had reached ‘epidemic levels’.
