Dirty Money Flow: How are the "London Gangs" smuggling their profits from the drug trade into Albania?

The British daily "Daily Mail" has dedicated an article to Albanian gangs in Britain and the routes they use to send drug money and more to Albania.

The mobsters, who hide in vans and wear Rolexes, pay fake tourists to send dirty money back to their country of origin and use it on a life of luxury.

According to the Daily Mail, at the end of last year there were almost 1,100 Albanians in prison, including murderers, rapists and feared Balkan mafia kingpins. Only three of them were women.

In addition to controlling the drug trade, the Albanian gangsters terrorizing the UK have also been convicted of murder, sexual harassment, money laundering and people smuggling.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) has warned for years about the threat posed by Albanian gangs, notorious for their professionalism and discipline, as well as their brutal tactics to keep the competition at bay.

Ruthless Albanian gangs have come to dominate the British drug trade, negotiating directly with Colombian cartels and undermining criminal rivals to flood Britain's streets with cheap cocaine.

The flow of money into Albania is a growing concern for the NCA. Its fears have grown so much that last year the agency signed an agreement with SPAK to investigate the assets of convicted Albanians in the UK.

As crime gangs seek to bring their money home, they are known to hide cash in delivery vans travelling between the two countries, as the Daily Mail writes.

An insider in the Albanian community in the UK said the large number of vans and trucks passing through Dover every day means criminals can hide by transporting hidden cash stash among the goods.

Olsa Sefolli was arrested in Albania after an X-ray found 10 packages hidden inside his white Mercedes van.

He was accused of laundering money obtained from criminal activity and failing to declare the money at the border crossing. Police also found weapons hidden in the van.

Sefolli said: "The owner of this van should explain the money, not me. He has three vans. I only count the goods inside that are visible. How could I know what was hidden? I don't get a salary, but I get paid for every trip I make."

According to Albanian police, the van belonged to a Luton-based company run by Guxim Sefolli. He was planning to invest the money in an apartment in the city of Vlora in southern Albania.

There are more than 30 companies registered in the UK that transport items such as clothes and furniture to Albania.

Within the Albanian community in Great Britain, a source said that it is well known that some of these companies smuggle money out of the country.

Another way gangs use to smuggle money out of the UK is by hiring couriers to pose as tourists, in order to sneak the money out via commercial airports, trains and ferries.

Couriers are given money to make the journey and a cash package of around £20,000 to take with them to Albania.

In 2018, mother and son Suzanna Sokolli and Xhino Mata from Albania were caught in Dover with £40,000 hidden in a pair of women's tights.

They were both jailed at Canterbury Crown Court for more than three years.

Criminal gangs are also thought to be now using cryptocurrencies to transfer money between the two countries.

Then, the money earned from Albanian crime in the UK is used to invest in Albania in properties, luxury bars, luxury cars. The insider said that this is how the money is laundered.