Inside the Albanian drug machine as 24 Hours in Police Custody shows how gangs turn high streets into ‘industrial’ farms

IT was a night of violence that led to the daring escape of 40 detainees from one of the country’s top immigration detention centres.

But the April 2023 breakout from Yarl’s Wood in Bedfordshire exposed not just the weakness of the facilty itself, but also shed a light on the massive network of drug and people smuggling set up by Albanian mafia-style gangs across the country.

Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre houses more than 400 people, many destined for deportation.

After a protest spiralled out of control, some of the inmates blocked the view of the centre’s cameras and began breaking down the fence.

Using the centre’s gym equipment, the men were able to force themselves out of the building.

While most were apprehended immediately, eight were able to evade capture and disappear into the murky network set up by gangs across the country, as revealed in the upcoming Channel 4 documentary 24 Hours in Police Custody.

CCTV from a nearby farm showed a group of hooded men trespassing across fields to spend the night in an outbuilding.

The next day, the trio was picked up from a golf club carpark by a taxi.

Police were able to track the taxi to Bedford, and identified the owner of the card that was used to pay the fare.

It was paid for by Vasile Koraque – a man known to police because of the involvement of his two brothers in a large-scale cannabis operation.

And it was undeniable proof that the escapees were part of a much larger criminal network, primed to not only help them evade capture, but welcome them back with open arms.

Generating much of the gangs’ profits are industrial-scale cannabis farms, the produce of which goes on to be sold all around the country – a market worth an estimated £2.4 billion.

Food chain

Farms are often based in rented-out homes, disused industrial buildings and even abandoned high street shops, with crops capable of generating more than £2million at a time.

Gangs that once specialised in cocaine have in the last few years turned to the lower-risk cannabis, taking over the market from the Vietnamese.

“It’s not one guy growing a couple of plants in his shed,” says Intelligence Analyst Estian Deysal.

“At the bottom of the chain is a gardner, who lives in the factory – their full time job is farming the cannabis. And at the top of the chain are the people who are actually running the business.

“It’s not unusual to have factories that are growing a thousand plants at a time, so if you’ve got an OCG running multiple grows they could be making multi-million pounds a year.”

“Your mind immediately goes to – are they going back to that criminal world they escaped from?

Three days after the Yarl’s Wood breakout, all eight men were still on the run.

With all signs pointing towards the involvement of organised Albanian cannabis gangs, officers start to visit addresses known to be connected to these networks.

Raids on properties that have been linked to the cannabis trade in the past are raided, uncovering grow-rooms filled with multiples of kilograms of plants.

Complete with specialised lighting and ventilation, these are designed to maximise output – and maximise profit.

But despite the discovery, none of the wanted men are found in the house.

Scapegoat

Police were at a standstill – until, remarkably, one of the escapees hands themselves in to Bedford Police station. 

In an interview with police, the man – Thanas Bizhoti – claims the escape was unplanned.

He also reveals he was urged by his friends to hand himself in.

He said, ‘Look, you’re causing me problems and causing us problems. The best thing you can do is hand yourself in’

Thanas Bizhoti

“My friend was very worried – he said, ‘Look, you’re causing me problems and causing us problems. The best thing you can do is hand yourself in’,” said Thanas.

Thanas claims he doesn’t know his friend’s address.

And when asked the name of this friend, all he can do is shrug.

To the police, it’s clear that Thanas was simply at the bottom of the food chain of a much more established drug distribution network.

And as an escapee with police attention focused on finding him, that made him one thing in the eyes of the gangsters he was staying with – a liability. 

With growing and supply networks to protect, Thanas was expendable to those higher up in the chain.

As time went by, more and more of the eight escapees ended up back in the hands of the law.

While all are transported to Bedfordshire for questioning, the diversity of places across the country they’re found hints at the breadth and penetration of the gangs they’re connected with.

Eleven days after the breakout, another escapee offered himself up for arrest. 

And a day later, a third man – Arnold Lleshaj – handed himself back to police in Leicestershire.

Enea Shima also gave himself up in a police station in South East London, while in Yorkshire, Mariglen Coha was the fifth escapee to be captured.

All denied having had contact with each other.

Many came across as petrified in their questioning – terrified of the consequences they’d face should they speak out.

And it signalled that the Albanian cannabis gangs are powerful enough to control their foot soldiers even when they’re under the supposed protection of the police.

Smuggling debt

While often in detention for criminal offences, those held in Yarl’s Wood were due for deportation due to their immigration status.

But the fact the men are here illegally is the very reason they became part of the drug gangs in the first place.

“I came here by lorry,” reveals one of the recaptured men. “But you have to pay them back.”

More than 12,000 arrived by small boats in 2022 alone, according to government figures.

I came here by lorry – but you have to pay them back

Albanian escapee

For young men growing up in Albania, life in the UK comes with a promise of security, higher incomes, and the hope of higher living standards. 

Illegitimate routes of entry offer a way to achieve this while circumventing the difficult task of securing a visa.

And the criminal gangs not only give these men a direct means of getting into the country, but offer a source of income too.

It’s a ready-made package that for many in Albania seems a one-way ticket to a better life.

But as the men detained in Yarl’s Wood discovered, it can come with a price – either from immigration authorities, or from being thrown under the bus by the very gangs that brought them here in the first place.

“There is a ready supply of young, Albanian men. They may come here with legitimate desires to better themselves,” said DCI James Panter.

“People will pay smugglers thousands of pounds to get them in the country.

“Once here, that debt is not gone. The reality for many of those Albanian young men is that they become stuck in cannabis cultivation, paying off that debt.”

The vast majority of these illegal immigrants came across the English Channel in the small boats that have proved such a bane for the government.

TikToks and Instagram stories posted by migrants have shown them smiling and waving while filming themselves crammed shoulder to shoulder in a boat.

Adverts for the voyage are posted online by the people smugglers, often with a casualness that hides what is, in reality, human trafficking.

“We have journey from France to England on speed boat,” says one such advert.

Yet despite being barely a 20 mile journey across the water, the price the trip is on offer for is a whopping £9,000 – and only for one person.

While these young men risk arrest and deportation in the UK, many are also escaping a world of crime in Albania.

One of the escapees, Mariglen Coha, reveals his own father was gunned down with thirty bullets to his body.

Mariglen himself paid a shocking – but not unusual – £24,000 to be transported to this country.

Locals in his home town reveal the threat he would face should he be deported by the UK border force.

Once here, that debt is not gone. The reality for many of those Albanian young men is that they become stuck in cannabis cultivation, paying off that debt

DCI James Panter

“If the police catch him and send him back, you have no chance of making that money back,” says one.

“He will either get killed or go to jail because he has no money,” adds another.

The UK remains an attractive destination for the simple fact that there is already an established Albanian community here – and established gang networks that can offer an easy job.

Other adverts on social media advertise the prospect of a flashy life full of flashy cars, designer clothes, and expensive champagne.

Yet this is often a charade, designed to lure people into the hands of the smuggling gangs.

And the life advertised is often only accessible to those right at the top of the food chain.

“They see young people their age with a Mercedes, while they don’t even have a bike,” says one food vendor in Albania. 

“But no one tells them the negatives of how they got the Benz,” he adds.

London in particular is a hotspot of Albanian drug gang activity in the UK, and phone data reveals all three of the remaining escapees were located somewhere in the capital.

Unlike the other escapees considered dispensable by the gangs, they had been able to avoid the police manhunt for more than 40 days.

One, Rizah Koka, was found in February of last year outside a coffee shop in Colindale, North London.

On him was a set of keys to an address containing £50,000 of cocaine, £63,000 of cannabis, and £70,000 in cash. 

Incredibly, another drug dealer, Samuel Boka, walked into the flat while police were conducting their search – and was arrested. 

All eight men eventually pleaded guilty to escaping lawful custody and were given sentences ranging from six months to more than five years.

24 Hours in Police Custody: Breakout airs tonight at 9pm on Channel 4