KMTV investigates what happened after the spike in small boat crossings from Albania in 2022. Watch as we get unique access to those who risked their lives by travelling the UK to work in cannabis farms or reunite with their family and uncover why so many look for a life elsewhere.
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00:00Why did you come here today?
00:02I came here because I want to leave Anglia.
00:05I have a job, and if I have to go through a lot of difficulties,
00:09if I have to go through a lot of difficulties,
00:11I want to continue this job.
00:13I want to continue this job.
00:15But why Anglia?
00:17There are other places where you can do this.
00:19Because it is, perhaps, the epicenter of these drugs.
00:23But I want to try again.
00:25I want to try again.
00:26I want to try everything.
00:27I don't want to leave.
00:29In 2022, around 16,000 Albanian citizens applied for asylum in the UK,
00:35making up 16% of all asylum applicants.
00:38More than 12,000 Albanians arrived in the UK by small boat crossings.
00:43The British people deserve to know which party is serious
00:48about stopping the invasion on our southern coast
00:53and which party is not.
00:55Some 40,000 people have arrived on the south coast this year alone,
01:02many of them facilitated by criminal gangs,
01:05some of them actual members of criminal gangs.
01:08So let's stop pretending that they are all refugees in distress.
01:25Hi, I'm Eric. I'm a British-born Albanian living in the UK.
01:29In 2022, there were loads of stories about people from Albania coming here on small boats.
01:34There were questions being asked about why people from a country considered safe would come here.
01:39I'm going to find out more by firstly speaking to the Albanian community in the UK
01:43as well as travelling to Albania to understand why people would leave.
01:47I'm starting here at my family home to show you how the Albanian community
01:52I'm starting here at my family home to show you how the Albanian community
01:57My brother and I grew up close to our Albanian family where we learned the language.
02:01We visit Albania every year and we watch Albanian TV at home.
02:08So it's safe to say we have a strong Albanian identity and we're proud of it.
02:13I caught up with my brother at our local park in London
02:17to talk about growing up Albanian in the UK.
02:20Obviously we've had two identities almost, the British one and the Albanian one.
02:24How was it growing up Albanian over here?
02:28I would say sometimes you might get a little comment about being Albanian.
02:34Even the perception, do you think it's negative?
02:37I feel like for the younger generation it is.
02:39When you talk about Albanians they're like, oh they're criminals, they're gangsters.
02:43We went through a process.
02:44Yeah, we did. The one in central London.
02:46Yeah.
02:47The main point of it was actually pretty good.
02:49What we were trying to show, what we were trying to prove I guess.
02:51I feel like Albanians that come from Albania to here,
02:54they come here and they get stuck or they go down the wrong path
02:57and then they just either get deported or get put in prison.
02:59So it just wastes potential for no reason.
03:06Independence Day rallies and protests have brought the Albanian community together.
03:11The 2022 protest was organised by Inkalid Omi and his brother.
03:16I met with Inkalid to talk about perceptions at the time.
03:19We're outside Westminster where you and a group of other people
03:23held a protest in November 2022.
03:26Could you tell me why you did it?
03:27The protest has been done by all Albanian community here.
03:31It has been done against the remarks from the Israeli government
03:34made against us, against all Albanians calling them criminals and invaders.
03:39The invasion on our southern coast and which party is not.
03:45I was also at the protest.
03:46It really did feel very unique as well because it was really the first time
03:50that the Albanian community in the UK really came together.
03:52How was the atmosphere do you think that day?
03:54The atmosphere was great really and we did not accept so many people coming there.
03:59We had about 50 stewards trying to keep protest everything peacefully.
04:04How do you think the media reacted after the protest?
04:07It reacted very bad.
04:10Some media, not every media, hasn't been very protective to Albanian community.
04:15Not only newspapers, small articles, Twitter.
04:19I know how many media has written against me and my brother
04:24because all the articles mention me and my brother as human traffickers.
04:28But I am here.
04:29If I am a human trafficker or if I am head of traffickers
04:33I might not be here today with you.
04:35For me, United Kingdom is a great country, great democracy.
04:40Is it worth risking your life to come to the UK?
04:44That's a million dollar question.
04:52I am a lecturer in law at University College London
04:55and most of my research is based on rule of law, corruption, migration and the Western Balkans.
05:02You've devoted a lot of research to studying migration from Albania.
05:05Can you tell me a little bit more about the driving factors?
05:08Since the collapse of communism we have had a number of waves of migration.
05:13Albania was closed to the rest of the world for 50 years
05:20and we were one of the most brutal dictatorships in Europe.
05:25So if we compare it to now, it's very much like North Korea.
05:29When we had the collapse of communism many Albanians left
05:33and we are still living some of those repercussions.
05:36From 2000 to now, more or less every year on average 45,000 Albanians leave the country
05:44and at the moment we have about over 40% of Albanians living abroad.
05:49In 2022 there were reports published that 12,000 to 13,000 Albanians were coming to the UK through illegal means.
05:56Why is that?
05:57The main factors that the research shows, corruption, especially petty corruption,
06:02it's quite a bit widespread in Albania.
06:05Access to healthcare, quality education, economic opportunities
06:10and Albania had the earthquake where 15 municipalities were hit
06:16and thousands of people were left without a home.
06:19And what the COVID crisis did, together with inflation, has increased the poverty line.
06:27In 2023 there was a big decrease in Albanian arrivals.
06:322,000 people came to the UK in the year ending September 2023
06:36compared to 12,000 arrivals in the year ending September 2022.
06:41Despite the reduction in arrivals, the National Crime Agency and policing authorities
06:46are continuing to make arrests for drug crimes linked to illegal migration.
06:51According to information obtained by a Freedom of Information request to Met Police in London,
06:56Albania is the third most common nationality, excluding the UK, with charged offences since 2020.
07:03It also showed that drug-related crime was the most prevalent behind non-notifiable offences.
07:09There are stories of people who come to the UK because of the life that is seen on social media
07:14and organised criminal gangs use this to traffic young men to work in cannabis farms.
07:18Smashing the criminal gangs means greater cooperation with our European neighbours.
07:23It means making sure that our intelligence services are playing a role in addressing this.
07:29Because the key element of this border security command is using what we've got but also bringing in expertise.
07:35The system has to work in a way which uses all the information that is potentially at our disposal
07:41to address the root cause of this.
07:44People who want a better life, whose fears of the future are being exploited by criminal gangs for their own profit.
07:51There is thousands and millions of euros that are being made by these people.
07:56Police say they are taking a proactive approach.
07:58A spokesperson for the National Police Chiefs Council said,
08:01during one operation last year, police seized and destroyed cannabis worth between £115 and £130 million
08:08and made over 1,000 arrests.
08:11But of course, this is the minority of Albanians who come to live in the UK.
08:15I went to meet TikToker Arild to talk about the way social media can influence people.
08:20I started to make some sketches about what Albanians do and the culture.
08:25Obviously, platforms like TikTok have also been quite popular for young Albanians in Albania to migrate over here.
08:33They come just because they see the lifestyle of TikTok. They see the nice car, the nice clothes.
08:38How influential is the music industry?
08:41A lot of the music that is out there features a lot of Albanian artists.
08:46They do often talk about drugs and crime and glorify it in a way. Do you think it's right?
08:52I don't think it's right. That's why I don't do this type of music.
08:55To be honest, I was shocked when I first came here. I was expecting London to be totally different.
09:00You grew up in Italy. Do you think that being Albanian in Italy is different from being Albanian over here?
09:05We were very discriminated. I was kind of scared to say, oh, I'm from Albania.
09:10But I think recently, thank God, things started to change as well.
09:14Being Albanian all of a sudden started to be a cool thing to have.
09:19This is a picture of me and my cousins when we were in Albania, back to my nan's house.
09:24And then there's that same picture with all the flags. Everyone emigrated.
09:29When I used to go to Albania, we had a friendship here.
09:31And now all of them are like, some of them are in the United States.
09:35Yeah, that's pretty sad.
09:36Maybe one day they will come back.
09:37Yeah, hopefully.
09:39Well, me and you are coming back soon.
10:01Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh
10:31my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my
11:01God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God
11:31In Greece, during communism, what was it like in Cyprus?
11:39At that time, we did not think that the communist system would not be good.
11:51We did not think that the communist system would not be good.
12:01How is Cyprus today?
12:03Today, Cyprus has changed.
12:07For example, the minimum wage is 180,000 lei.
12:11In 2013, the Socialist Party of Greece received 400,000 lei.
12:17The other parties received 900 euros.
12:21The workers, the specialists, etc.
12:25The minimum wage at the level of the European Union has not changed.
12:30And when you say that, when you say this and that, it will not change.
12:36Many believe a solution to immigration is joining the European Union.
12:40Albania started negotiations with the European Commission in 2022,
12:44but to join the EU they need more stable political systems,
12:47they need to fight corruption, organized crime and money laundering,
12:50as well as respecting human and minority rights.
12:53I spoke to Iorida Tabako, who is part of the Council of Europe and the Democratic Party.
12:58In Albania, there seems to be that there isn't really a welfare system in a sense.
13:03I know that my parents and a lot of other people as well that live abroad,
13:07they often send money back because they always have someone that lives over here.
13:11In my case, my grandparents.
13:13Is this a contributing factor for why Albanians are leaving Albania?
13:17If you see the areas where Albanians are living most in the north, those are poor areas.
13:22Those are areas that do not have investments.
13:25Kukos, Tropoja, Dibra, in terms of education, social care and so on.
13:31As we speak, Albania has the smallest bill on social support.
13:36The poverty is 23%, it's the highest in the Western Balkans.
13:41Politicians have been arrested as part of an initiative to address corruption in politics.
13:45But there is still much to do to build the trust of the people in Albania,
13:49to have faith in the people who represent them.
13:51Corruption has been a factor that has influenced political life in Albania for the last 30 years.
13:58I believe that now we are in a phase where people are understanding that they should fear the law,
14:06that they should fear the system.
14:09I'm here in Rinas, where a plane has just landed,
14:12which has brought back illegal immigrants from the UK back to Albania.
14:17This happens once a week, with many of their families greeting them back to the country
14:21in the police station just behind me.
14:26After speaking to a lot of people over here whose family relatives are being deported back from the UK,
14:31they told us about how a lot of their relatives were involved in cannabis farms, in construction,
14:37and it does seem to be an emotional place because they are being reunited after so long.
14:43Why did you come here today?
14:50How much did you pay?
15:02Did you have a job in the UK?
15:13Eraldo is an investigative journalist in Albania.
15:16He has travelled with migrants on their journey to the UK
15:19to better understand their experience and their motivations.
15:42It was a very difficult situation for me.
15:44When I came to the UK today, because the hygienic conditions were terrible,
15:48there was no sanitation.
15:51Have you talked to people who live in the UK?
15:55I've talked to a lot of Albanians.
15:57I got a job offer from PUCA.
16:01He was a practitioner, a professor, a professor of history.
16:06He had two children.
16:08The youngest was six months old.
16:10He was also a migrant because he didn't have a job.
16:14He went to live in a bar.
16:16They were very easy to get along with.
16:19On social media, you could see that they were very friendly,
16:23that they didn't have any problems.
16:25I started to take them out more often,
16:27to go from Spain to the UK or from Scandinavia to the UK.
16:31When the payment is higher, it can go up to £20,000.
16:41I'm here outside Elbasan, where I'll be meeting a young 24-year-old man
16:45who chooses to remain anonymous because of his criminal activities in the UK.
16:49In 2021, he made the journey to Kent on a small boat.
16:53He was put in a hotel by the government when he escaped.
16:57I'd like to start by asking how you got to the UK.
17:01Can you tell me a little bit about your story?
17:04I left Cyprus by bus.
17:07I took the bus to Belgium.
17:09I stayed in Belgium for 25 days.
17:12We were in the village for 6 days and 6 nights.
17:18After 5 days, I was told that I was an Albanian.
17:21I was told that I was an Albanian.
17:23I was told that I was an Albanian.
17:25I was told that I was an Albanian.
17:27I was told that I was an Albanian.
17:29I was told that I was an Albanian.
17:31I was told that I was an Albanian.
17:33I was told that I was an Albanian.
17:35We left and stayed one day, one night, and talked.
17:39I was told that I was an Albanian.
17:41They took our children away from us.
17:43My children were 6 months old.
17:49Did they speak to you?
17:51Did they speak to you about your life?
17:53No, they didn't.
17:55It was normal that they did not speak to me.
17:57They talked about a large amount of money.
17:59They talked about a large amount of money.
18:01It was a $4,500 loan.
18:03I went to England to start a business.
18:07I was told that I could go to a bar.
18:11I went and I was told that I was a good person.
18:15Why England? Is there any other country where you can do this?
18:19Because England is the epicenter of these drugs.
18:23I can go to a bar because I have a clear status.
18:27I went to see what the current government is doing
18:31to address organized crime, corruption
18:35and how they are dealing with mass migration.
18:39What Albania and the UK have shown is that the best way is to cooperate.
18:43You can pass the channel, you arrive there some day,
18:47but on Thursday afternoon you'll be back to Tirana again.
18:51The opposition, some members of it, say that you are in fact not fighting organized crime
18:55and not investing in areas where a lot of migrants have left, specifically in the north.
18:59Important persons of the organized crime
19:03have been arrested, not only in Albania, but elsewhere in the world.
19:07There has been a fight against fake documents, drug dealers.
19:11When it comes from the government, everything has been done.
19:15The diaspora of Kukos have to think about coming back and transforming their houses
19:19into agro-tourist destinations.
19:23The main reason for leaving, especially the youth, is because of unemployment, poverty
19:27and also the lack of welfare system over here in Albania.
19:31I still stick on the fact that the cost of life in Albania is much lower.
19:35Why do 40,000 people leave every single year over here?
19:43I'm 100% convinced that those who wanted to leave have already left.
19:47And the fight against illegal migration
19:51is one of the biggest challenges of this century.
19:55The government says that they've done all they can to invest in the north.
19:59So I travelled to north Albania to find out what it's really like to live there.
20:03I've travelled to Kukos and its surrounding villages.
20:07It's known for its beautiful scenery and mass migration.
20:11I'll be finding out more as to why young people would want to leave this place.
20:15I met with Denis, a photographer who grew up in Kukos.
20:19How is life in Kukos for people who live here?
20:23It's the economy.
20:27I've always wanted to leave Kukos.
20:31I've never seen anything like it.
20:35I've never seen anything like it.
20:39There's a lot to do here.
20:43There's tourism, everything.
20:47The problem is that there's always been a shortage of workers.
20:51The shortage means that there was no right.
20:55The roads were extremely narrow.
20:59The construction of houses,
21:03the construction of hospitals, etc.
21:07Do you have any family members who have emigrated?
21:11Yes, I have a son.
21:15He lives in London.
21:21Denis studied photography with the help of Charity New Perspectives.
21:25He then applied for a grant to get the equipment he needed,
21:29and now he owns his own business.
21:33The charity is funded by the UK government and is working to raise awareness
21:37by helping young people build careers and opportunities in Albania.
21:41The total funding of the project is about 10.2 million GBP.
21:45It has been implemented in the four northeastern
21:49most municipalities of Albania.
21:53A significant number of irregular migrants from Albania to the UK
21:57come from these areas. Approximately 40% best of our estimates.
22:01Unfortunately, these areas are the poorest areas of Albania,
22:05so not a lot of opportunities by themselves.
22:09We are also secluded in terms of infrastructure.
22:13The government in Albania is clear that tourism will help the city of Cux.
22:17Fatmir set up a restaurant with this in mind too, though it's not without its difficulties.
22:21He travelled to the UK illegally because a lot of his family lives there,
22:25and they still do, but he came back to set up this business with his parents.
22:29I have been in the UK for almost 16 years.
22:33How did you get to the UK?
22:37We got here by truck.
22:41We travelled from Calais by truck,
22:45by the truck transport trains.
22:49We didn't have a driver,
22:53but someone who did the job well.
22:57We decided to come here,
23:01and when the time came to go to the police,
23:05we decided to risk our lives and go to the UK.
23:09You came back to the UK in what year?
23:13It was around 2008.
23:17We came from Portugal to Ireland,
23:21and then from Dublin to Bristol.
23:25I have been here for a long time,
23:29and I am very young,
23:33so it's a bit difficult for me to find a job.
23:37I don't want to give up this job.
23:41Even if I have to go through a lot of difficulties,
23:45I don't want to give up this job.
23:49Despite people coming back to Albania,
23:53and many wanting to invest,
23:57there are still people who want to live and work in the UK.
24:01He's tried 10 times and spent tens of thousands of pounds,
24:05but won't stop until he's finally made it.
24:09When you get in the truck,
24:13the truck will take you to the gate,
24:17but it doesn't work like that.
24:21I've tried to get in with a fake document,
24:25but it didn't work.
24:29I've tried to get in with a fake document,
24:33but it didn't work.
24:37When you get in the truck,
24:41you are stressed,
24:45and you start to doubt yourself.
24:49I spent a lot of money,
24:53and I was in debt.
24:57I spent a lot of money,
25:01and I was in debt.
25:05I spent a lot of money,
25:09and I was in debt.
25:17Back in the UK,
25:21after learning from my experiences in Albania,
25:25it's very clear that there are still people seeking to come here from Albania,
25:29and we know that Albania is a safe country,
25:33and that our government and the Albanian government have worked very hard to tackle the problem.
25:37Here in the UK, unless they have come on a visa,
25:41there are no legal routes for them to work in the UK.
25:45Some of our previous immigration bills, particularly the one that brought in a points-based system,
25:49has not achieved what the proponents of it thought it would.
25:53But there is no magic wand that you can wave to solve the vexed global problem of immigration.
26:01The numbers have increased,
26:05and people arrive all across this coastline.
26:09I've seen, as many people here in Folkestone have seen, people arriving on small boats,
26:13and seen the fear and the real human aspect of it.
26:17Asylum seekers being housed in these quite inhumane conditions,
26:21we have the Bivi Stockholm Barge, which is now closed.
26:25We've got Napier Barracks here, about which there have been many court cases
26:29about the conditions that people are held in there.
26:33Albania aspires to be a member of the European Union,
26:37and part of that is ensuring that human rights and basic protections are inherent in their own state.
26:41There is obviously work to do in making sure that
26:45those who have got a fear of the Albanian state,
26:49their claims are addressed properly, and that is what the asylum system is for,
26:53while at the same time recognising that there are some people who come from Albania
26:57who do not have a legislative claim.
27:01There are legal routes to come if you're from Albania.
27:05Whether you qualify is another question. There has to be control, otherwise democracy breaks down.
27:09I thought I knew the situation actually,
27:13but I feel like I relearned everything that I previously knew.
27:17Especially young people.
27:21There's a lot of attempts to fight corruption, almost giving hope to some Albanians.
27:25When I go to Albania, I feel at home.
27:29Would you want to move there?
27:33I think definitely I would move there at some point. I think it's inevitable.
27:37I feel like it's a question that you never know in life,
27:41but that I will return one day is definite.
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