Wife’s human rights save Albanian drug lord from deportation

A MIGRANT jailed for cannabis farming has escaped deportation because it would breach his wife’s human rights to have to move to Albania, an immigration court has ruled.

A tribunal decided it was “unduly harsh” for the Filipino wife of convicted drug producer Gazmend Jaupaj to be separated from him or to be forced to move to Albania with him if he was deported.

It rejected a move by the Home Office to deport Jaupaj, 38, on the grounds that it would be a breach of the couple’s human rights. Article eight of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) stipulates that everyone has a right to respect for their private and family life.

“The effect of [Jaupaj’s] deportation upon his wife would be unduly harsh. It is not a realistic option to expect her to relocate to Albania and separation from her husband is likely to cause real harm to her mental health,” said the tribunal.

Jaupaj entered the UK illegally on Sept 1 2012. He met his wife, who is originally from the Philippines, in 2018 and they married in 2021.

A month later, he was arrested on suspicion of drug offences after cultivating 600 cannabis plants at a house they had turned into a drugs farm in Thurmaston, Leics.

Jaupaj and his brother, Naim, and a third man had drawn the attention of the electricity board after the meter at the property where they were staying was bypassed.

Neighbours then drew their attention to two men on the roof of the property, before officers managed to get inside and detain all three men. They also found the 600 plants, which could have produced about 33 kilos of cannabis, with a street value of up to £1 million.

Jaupaj was jailed for two years for producing a controlled drug. A deportation order was made on September 13 which his lawyers then challenged on human rights grounds.

The tribunal was told his Filipino wife had no family in the UK and claimed to suffer from mental ill-health for which she had been on medication. Her claims were supported by sick notes while a social worker said the deportation of her husband would cause a “relapse” in her mental health.

Jaupaj’s lawyers said she did not speak Albanian and it would be difficult for her to integrate in Albanian society. They said she was settled in the UK where she had a well-paid job. While she was an active member of her church, her primary source of support was her husband, the lawyers said.

The Home Office has appealed the case and it is being reconsidered by a first-tier tribunal.