Albanian migrants just want to go home as they are ‘victims of Tiktok’, says ambassador

ALBANIAN Channel migrants are pleading to go back home after being conned by Tiktok adverts into believing they will have a better life in the UK, the country’s ambassador says.

Qirjako Qirko said in the past month the London embassy had issued travel documents to 300 of his countrymen who claimed to be “victims of Tiktok” and wanted to return home. He told MPS on the home affairs committee that the men had been led to believe it would be easy to set up businesses, but had given up within weeks to seek “laisser passer” documents to return to Albania.

At least 12,000 Albanian migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year, accounting for some 30 per cent of the record 44,000 small boat arrivals.

Mr Qirko said: “The number of laisser passer [documents] this month is 300.

Some of them explained:‘we are victim of Tiktok and Facebook. We have come here because we thought it’s easy to start a business.’”

Mr Qirko indicated that law enforcement agencies in Albania had mounted investigations into people smugglers, who primarily use Tiktok to advertise boat journeys across the Channel, including special offers for children, families and the disabled.

However, he added: “We can’t control opinions, [we are a] free country, we can’t control Tiktok or Facebook.”

His comments follow an appeal by a Channel migrant deported last month to Albania who urged his countrymen not to make the same journey, warning he faced “an unimaginable terror”.

Mr Qirko acknowledged some Albanians were pretending to be victims of modern slavery to avoid deportation from the UK, and said his government was willing to take back people claiming to be trafficking victims. A record 3,467 Albanians in the UK have claimed to be modern slavery victims so far this year, nearly 1,000 more than in 2021.

Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, is considering fast-track deportation of Albanians claiming modern slavery and asylum, with the possibility they could be denied the right to apply for either because they are from a safe Nato country seeking to join the EU.

Asked if the UK should not have to

recognise any asylum claims from Albanians, the ambassador said it was up to the British authorities to decide. But he urged the UK to consider a legal work visa route to combat illegal migration and people-smuggling gangs.

Mr Qirko also claimed a “campaign of discrimination” against Albanians in the UK had even led to children being bullied. “I would like to take this opportunity to ask that this campaign of discrimination should stop,” he said.