Albanian migrants boast about cutting off ankle tags
Social media posts show them removing devices so they can ‘go underground and avoid deportation’
TWO thirds of the Albanian Channel migrants who were electronically tagged to prevent them absconding have cut them off or tampered with them in a bid to escape, Home Office figures show.
Albanians accounted for 204 of the 284 Channel migrants who have been tagged since June last year to stop them skipping immigration bail or disappearing into the black economy.
But Home Office figures showed 133 of the 204 – 65 per cent – were “noncompliant”, which meant they breached their tagging conditions including, in many cases, by removing them.
Additionally 51 of the 64 Albanian criminals who have been tagged in advance of their potential deportation also broke their conditions.
The Daily Telegraph has uncovered Tiktok videos of Albanians boasting about how easy it was to cut off their tags, including one group of three men pictured in front of Tower Bridge with their severed ankle tags.
One Albanian, tagged after being charged with growing 800 cannabis plants in an illegal farm, even demon- strated on the social media platform how to remove his ankle tag, using nothing more than kitchen scissors.
Government sources said legitimate asylum seekers were less likely to break off their tags as it would jeopardise their chances of being granted leave to remain in the UK.
“The others want to claim asylum, they keep the tags on and go through the process of trying to claim asylum,” said a source. “Many Albanians come here to work, not to claim asylum.”
At least a quarter of the 46,000 migrants who crossed the Channel last year were Albanian, up from 800 in 2021. Numbers have fallen off over the winter, attributed partly to the increased risks from bad weather and following a Government crackdown.
Ministers have struck a deal with Albania to fast-track the return of migrants on the basis that it is a “safe” country seeking EU membership. Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, has said means the majority of asylum claims by Albanians can be treated as unfounded.
There are about 15,000 people in England and Wales on tags, with the Government aiming to increase that figure to 25,000 by 2025.
Anyone removing a tag or breaching tagging conditions faces a jail term.
In one Tiktok video, two Albanians are shown cutting their ankle tags off with scissors, with one saying: “So, I am a criminal … f--- it.” He then posts a separate image of his Crown Prosecution Service charge sheet, showing he has been accused of being caught with 800 cannabis plants.
An Albanian source said: “They don’t care if they are tagged. In order to avoid deportation they go underground and remove the tags.”
A probation service spokesman said: “Those who tamper with tags are reported instantly, thanks to sophisticated safety measures and they face going back to court or prison if they do.”
The news came as Olta Xhacka, Albania’s foreign minister, attacked Robert Jenrick, the UK immigration minister, for “verbally lynching” the Albanian nation with his language about “finding and detaining” Albanians in the UK.
Mr Jenrick posted a video on Twitter in which he praised immigration enforcement officers for “finding and detaining” Albanians so that they could be deported.
However, Mr Xhacka tweeted: “Shocked beyond words to hear a minister of state in charge of immigration use such language for some more miserable votes.”