The Albanian crime gangs ‘using UK van firms to move drugs cash’
ALBANIAN crime gangs are using Uk-registered courier firms to transport bundles of cash back to their homeland.
Money thought in some cases to have been generated from cocaine and homegrown cannabis ventures is being shifted out of Britain in vans to be laundered into property and businesses, according to police.
A Sunday Express probe found several courier outfits registered at Companies House are being run by Albanian nationals, who advertise on social media that they transport legitimate items such as furniture between the two countries.
In some cases they have been involved in the shipment of undeclared cash and, in at least one case, firearms.
Last week this newspaper revealed social media giants are helping fuel an influx of Albanian drug workers by allowing influencers to promote a criminal lifestyle.
Our new probe found four alleged members of an organised crime group, that the National Crime Agency suspects specialises in smuggling criminal cash from Britain to Albania, were arrested this month. An NCA spokesman said: “Officers believe the group operates under the guise of a legitimate courier company.”
On April 13, an Albanian national, 48, was arrested at Dover when £200,000 in bank notes was seized from his vehicle.
The same day two men, aged 34 and 22, and a 17-year-old were arrested in Tottenham Hale, north London, when around £150,000 cash was seized.
The probe began in February 2022 after Border Force officials stopped an Albanian national at the outbound Channel Tunnel. Inside his van, bound for the capital Tirana, officers found £390,000. A further £150,000 was recovered from his Haringey home.
Sunday Express inquiries revealed the practice of using Uk-based courier firms to move undeclared cash is widespread.
In May 2021, Albanian police seized £123,000 hidden in a Mercedes van sent from Luton-based courier Sihana Transport that was moving legitimate goods.
Driver Olsi Sefolli, 24, was arrested after an X-ray found a concealment of 10 packages of money.
Sefolli, from Durrës, denied any knowledge to police. He said he had taken over the van at Ancona port in Italy from another driver who came from the UK.
During his trial, Olsi’s cousin Guxim Sefolli, 30, from Luton, who owns Sihana Transport, gave evidence, admitting that he had hidden the cash in the van without the two drivers’ knowledge.
He said the money was to buy an apartment in Vlora. He denied it was criminal proceeds and said it was his own savings earned legitimately from 2017 onwards, and illegally in black market construction from his arrival in the UK from 2010 to 2017.
Guxim faced no sanction but Olsi was found guilty of not declaring money and received a suspended nine-month sentence.
The same firm came to the attention of Albanian police in April last year when eight pistols and ammunition were found in one of its vans at the Port of Durrës. Reports in Albania named Guxim Sefolli as the van’s owner and said the load was bound for England.
Albania’s Special Anticorruption and Organised Crime Structure requested support from UK authorities to probe the case, and the Albanian force said the van’s driver remains under investigation.
Guxim Sefolli was contacted for comment through a Facebook page for the courier firm, which has since changed its name. He said about the guns: “A customer used my company to bring some tables from Albania and hid these guns without my knowledge. As soon as I discovered this I made a report to the local police station and later the UK intelligence asked me for details and I provided everything.” He said that being named in Albania in connection with both cases had affected his reputation and he has moved into other trades.
In another case, £225,000 was found in the fuel tank of a Uk-registered Mercedes van at the Italian port of Bari in February 2021.
An Italian Customs spokesman said at the time: “These vehicles make the trip weekly. There is a wellorganised network.”
A NCA spokesman said: “The NCA does not routinely confirm or deny investigations.”
Checks of online media by this newspaper found 28 companies registered in the UK that specialise in transporting clothes, furniture or other items from different cities toalbania.an Albanian source said: “Within the Albanian community in the UK it is well known that some of these firms smuggle money out.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “Border Force is relentless in its efforts to detect and seize harmful goods or undeclared cash.”
‘Police seized £123,000 hidden in van’