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Britain raises alarm: Albanians are running gangs from prison cells

Politiko 2026-07-21 08:34:38

Britain raises alarm: Albanians are running gangs from prison cells

Albanian prisoners in England and Wales have made more than 157,000 phone calls over the past six months, a figure that has raised suspicions that some of them may continue to conduct criminal activities from prison, The Telegraph reports , citing data from the British Ministry of Justice.

According to official statistics, 1,200 Albanian prisoners made a total of 157,962 phone calls, or around 900 calls per day, more than twice as many as any other foreign nationality in prisons in England and Wales.

Albanians make up the largest group of foreign nationals in British prisons, followed by Poles and Romanians. According to prison service data, Albanians made around four times as many phone calls as Poles and Romanians, who recorded 37,691 and 37,307 calls respectively during the same period.

Professor Ian Acheson, a former prison director and former adviser to the British government on extremism in prisons, described this number of calls as "grossly disproportionate".

He stated that Albanian criminal groups dominate drug distribution within prisons and that it would not be surprising if some of them used telephones to coordinate criminal activities outside prison walls.

The report also recalls statements by former British Justice Minister David Lammy, who warned that gang leaders are increasingly managing their criminal organizations from prison. According to him, criminal groups are also using sophisticated drones to smuggle drugs and weapons into prisons, bypassing traditional security measures.

The Telegraph writes that the majority of Albanian citizens have been convicted of drug-related or theft offences. Citing the National Crime Agency (NCA), the newspaper notes that Albanian criminal groups have taken a dominant role in the cultivation of cannabis in Britain, replacing the Vietnamese as the main domestic suppliers of this drug.

According to the NCA, Albanian groups, which were previously focused on cocaine trafficking, have turned to cannabis cultivation due to the high profits and lower risk. The article also states that the increase in the number of Albanian immigrants who crossed the English Channel in 2022 has created a ready source of illegal workers for cannabis cultivation in adapted environments.

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