Albanian drug gangs kidnap rivals’ elderly relatives and hold them to... GRANSOM

RUTHLESS Albanian criminals operating in Britain are kidnapping the elderly relatives of rival gangsters in a tactic that has been dubbed ‘gransom’.

Police leaders have revealed that they target the parents or even grandparents of other organised crime families, hold them hostage and demand cash, drugs or territory in return for their safe release.

Crime lords from the tiny Balkan state are so violent and remorseless that they have usurped traditional drug-dealing gangs across much of the UK and are now sending huge sums of cash home hidden inside cars.

Albania is not part of the European Union and latest figures show there are only 32,000 Albanians living in Britain but a staggering 572 of them are in jail – almost one in 50.

Details of the gangs’ exploits were revealed to police chiefs and crime tsars at a conference in London last week.

Kathryn Holloway, the Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘You can’t imagine how ruthless they are. Some of the traditional gangs have melted away, faced with the sheer brutality of the Albanians. These are without doubt the most ruthless gangs the UK has ever seen. They are prepared to kidnap rivals for £200 debts.

‘They kidnap elderly relatives of rival gangs to use them to extort money, drugs and territory. It creates an enormous headache for British police.’

She said the practice has become known as ‘gransom’.

Ms Holloway also told how police had discovered Albanian gangsters were moving ‘vast amounts of cash’ out of the UK in specially adapted cars.

Earlier this year, Vladimir Cahani and his wife Ardita were caught trying to smuggle €130,000 through the Channel Tunnel in their vehicle.

When specially trained Border Force sniffer dogs searched their Audi at the terminal in Folkestone, they found the notes hidden inside the dashboard.

Earlier this year, the National Crime Agency warned: ‘Albanian crime groups have established a high-profile influence within UK organised crime.’

They are behind much of the supply of cocaine around the country and are also involved in human trafficking and prostitution.

The NCA has carried out 400 operations against their activities in the past year alone, targeting the car washes, nail bars and ‘pop-up brothels’ where they force vulnerable compatriots to work.

‘Most ruthless criminals we have ever seen’