Violent Albanian gangsters taunt UK police
‘Falcon’ criminals mock British justice from jail as police raise concerns over rising tide of offences
ALBANIAN criminals are mocking British justice by mounting increasingly violent burglaries and issuing defiant social media posts from inside jails.
The Daily Telegraph has obtained Instagram images from the private accounts of Fabion Kuci and Azem Dajci, currently in Wormwood Scrubs jail for aggravated burglary during which they were caught with a gun and ammunition.
They are part of a worrying new trend where Albanian gangs have turned to violent raids on homes in the south of England to steal cash and jewellery, which is smuggled back to Albania to be fenced on the black market.
Police in London, Kent and Surrey have issued “wanted” alerts for at least five Albanian criminals behind a string of aggravated burglaries. The violent tactics are the trademark of so-called Albanian “Falcon” gangs that have terrorised families in southern Europe but are now being adopted in the UK.
Chief Insp Jim Corbett said: “These offenders have callously robbed, stolen or burgled from communities, commuters and tourists within London, often using violence and weapons, for their own financial gain.”
THEY are known as the “Falcons” in Albania where there is even a popular comedy show that has a dedicated slot each week about their ability to break into houses to steal goods.
Their tactics of violent burglary, often while their victims are in, have terrorised homeowners in Italy and Spain but appear to have now spread to the UK, according to police.
Fabion Kuci and Azem Dajci are two such Falcons, currently in Wormwood Scrubs jail for aggravated burglary during which they were caught with a gun and ammunition.
Police in London, Kent and Surrey have issued “wanted” alerts for at least five other Albanian criminals behind a string of aggravated burglaries across the south of England.
Burglars Kuci, nicknamed Gucci, and Dajci, nicknamed Ziro, are members of the east London-based Hellbanianz gang, which regularly posts images of gang members posing with sports cars, guns, drugs and wads of cash. The gang is thought to rule the east London cocaine trade with an iron fist. Police sources say Hellbanianz, whose motto is “We are God Of The Streets”, are also behind increasing gang violence as they vie to leapfrog their rivals in turf wars.
Their brazen brand of violence extends to prison from where, using illegally smuggled in phones, Kuci and Dajci have continued to mock justice by posting images of themselves on the private Instagram account of the Hellbanianz gang.
Seen by almost 1,000 people, comments included “Free Ziro”, “You are the Giant”, and: “Yes Yes like real bosses...”. Kuci was previously jailed for four and a half years at Maidstone Crown Court for a burglary in which he and three others wearing balaclavas targeted a family home in Chatham, Kent, in the early hours. The four-man gang armed with a sawn-off shotgun and handgun beat the father of the family unconscious with a pistol stock before making off in the man’s Jaguar.
The court was told the victim could be heard crying out in pain as his girlfriend and daughters, aged three and five, cowered in a bedroom in the flat.
They are not the only Hellbanianz who post from prison. Albanian Tristen Asllani, who is serving a 25-year sentence for drugs and firearms offences, is pictured in jail doing the gang’s trademark salute where they mimic the horns of a bull with their fists.
He was arrested after crashing a car containing a suitcase of cocaine into a shop in Crouch End, north London, after being pursued by police. Officers found 46lb (21kg) of cocaine.
Agron Demarku is pictured in his cell held aloft in apparent triumph by another inmate. He was the ringleader of a five-strong family gang jailed for a total of 63 years for running a £1.8 million chain of brothels employing women as young as 16 trafficked to Britain from Lithuania.
Lulzim Zefi, jailed for 12 years for smuggling cocaine hidden inside car dashboards, posted a smug selfie in a jail courtyard. The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) said it had been removed from social media. Marsel Meco, part of a four-man group jailed for 12 years for money laundering, has been prolific with postings on Instagram.
Albanians have overtaken Poles as the biggest foreign criminal group in UK jails, despite a deal in 2013 that allowed them to be sent home to serve their sentences.
Sokol Kalani, who heads an Albanian state police task force against burglars who operate in Europe, said there was a rise in requests from police to help identify and investigate the criminals behind Falcon-style burglaries in the UK. “Most of the requests we have are from Italy and Germany but lately we have received the same requests from the UK to identify and arrest Albanians who have been involved in burglaries to face justice,” he said. Police said the stolen goods were often smuggled to Albania in lorries or vans to be sold on the black market.
Among those being hunted by police in the UK is Marjo Marku, 30, who is wanted for four burglaries and whose image has been released with others in an attempt to elicit new leads.
Chief Insp Jim Corbett said: “These offenders have callously robbed, stolen or burgled from communities, commuters and tourists within London, often using violence and weapons, for their own financial gain.”
The MOJ said it had seized illicit mobile phones from jails and removed accounts after being alerted to them.
‘Most of the requests we have [for Albanians] are from Italy and Germany but lately we have received the same requests from the UK’