Experts in Britain sound the alarm: Albanian gangs are using barbershops for criminal activities

 

Albanian criminal gangs have returned to the attention of the British media. Recently, 'Daily Mail' has devoted an article to the new tactics that Albanian gangs are using for their criminal activities.

According to British media, from internal security sources, the gangs are using several businesses to hide the proceeds of crime and that many of them can be a base for human trafficking and slave labor.

One of the businesses that is being used recently are barbershops. The explosion of barbershops in London and other major UK cities has prompted experts to call for an investigation.

Some are run by Albanian and Kurdish gangs suspected of making money smuggling tens of thousands of migrants from Calais to Dover in lorries and small boats across the Channel.

Former Metropolitan Police officer Ali Hassan Ali said the streets have seen a boom in barbers opening since the pandemic.

“Many of these stores have thousands of pounds of equipment but no customers. While in some cases the shops will be involved in legitimate business, from my experience, there are strong reasons to believe that a large number, especially those owned by Albanians, Turks and Kurds, have ties to organized crime. This can be human smuggling and in some cases drugs ", he said.

According to him, the sudden growth of barbershops is really worrying because they are playing a role in financing human trafficking and the misery it causes.

The latest figures compiled by the National Hair and Beauty Federation show that between 2014 and 2019 there has been a 64 per cent increase in the number of barbershops in the UK, from 7,958 to 13,046.

At the same time, top hair salons saw a 21 percent increase, from 13,694 in 2014 to 16,559 in 2019.

The NCA recently warned that the amount of crime money leaving the UK has increased 'exponentially' over the past four years, fueled by Albanian drug gangs sending money home.

Organized crime syndicates from the Balkan state have almost taken over the UK cocaine market, while Turkish gangs have traditionally dominated the supply of heroin.