REVEALED: Alleged drug crimelord who court gave anonymity
A SUSPECTED Albanian crime kingpin banned from the UK over claims he led a network flooding the country with drugs can be unmasked, thanks to the Sunday Express.
Despite having “almost no financial footprint in the UK”, Fation Dauti, 36, was said to have had led a luxury lifestyle.
Investigators said he made his money from trafficking and was capable of “extreme violence” to protect his interests.
His identity was protected by an anonymity order, but on Wednesday it was lifted by Lady Justice Elisabeth Laing at the Court of Appeal, following submissions from this newspaper.
However Dauti is now fighting to return to the UK to be with his Latvian wife.
And he claims his life is in danger from organised gangs if they “wrongly” believe he is the crime boss the National Crime Agency (NCA) suggests he is.
His solicitor Hektor Lahi said Dauti was not involved in organised crime and has called on the NCA to charge him so he can
‘He was involved in serious criminality’
“clear his name”. The NCA asked the Home Office to revoke Dauti’s residency in 2019 over claims his activities made him a public safety threat.
Dauti challenged the revocation at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), but lost.
The hearing was told the NCA believes he is a key member of a London-based criminal network involved in cocaine importation, home-grown cannabis production, people smuggling and money laundering.
We can reveal the alleged gangster also owns a piano bar in Albania, where there was an attempt on his life in 2013.
Dauti came to the UK aged 14 and was given residency in 2012 because he married an EU national.
The Home Office revoked it in September 2019, based on intelligence from the NCA – which was investigating the network but had been unable to charge Dauti.
Dauti denies involvement in crime, saying he merely knows socially or was related to several other alleged gang members named in the judgment.
In March, SIAC judges accepted Home Office and NCA arguments that Dauti would remain involved in crime and pose a “serious threat to public security and safety” if allowed to stay in Britain. The appeal heard he had just one UK bank account, funded by cash payments and limited earnings from a loft company.
However, he enjoyed a lifestyle of nightclubs, designer goods and luxury vehicles including a Bentley, Range Rover and Jaguar, hired from a drug dealer’s car rental business.
The hearing was also told about a stabbing attack on a Bulgarian bouncer outside a nightclub in 2012.
CCTV showed Dauti scuffling with the doorman and he returned to Albania immediately afterwards.
He was charged with grievous bodily harm on his return, but the hearing was told door staff, who allegedly feared Dauti and were paid not to co-operate, withdrew their statements.
Dauti appeared at Blackfriars Crown Court in 2013, but the prosecution was withdrawn due to lack of evidence. The hearing was also told photos of Dauti with a Kalashnikov machine gun and a pistol were found on his phone during a border check at Dover.
NCA operations manager Martin Matthews said several arrests were made, kilos of cocaine seized and illegal immigrants detained, but there was limited admissible evidence to arrest Dauti.
Mr Lahi said Dauti was not involved in organised crime but if he were identified, he could be a possible target for those with commercial interest in drugs.
The Sunday Express said Dauti’s name had been on public record in connection with organised crime in Albania since 2013.
It was also argued it was in the public interest for his identity to be known, due to alleged connections to people smuggling. Mr Lahi said: “The CPS has confirmed that it never had any evidence and [Dauti] said that if it has the evidence he should face the charges.
“The NCA failed for over two years to gather evidence. They have managed to spend millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money and the only reason they have asked for an exclusion order is to explain this enormous expenditure.
“We have been instructed to take legal action against the NCA.”
NCA deputy director of investigations Chris Farrimond said: “We believe this individual was a high-ranking member of a significant organised crime group involved in a range of serious criminality.
“This assessment was made following a thorough investigation, and was upheld by the court judgment.”