Terrorist claims he will be ‘executed by gangsters' if deported to Albania
A convicted terrorist who planned to detonate a bomb at a football stadium is appealing against his deportation because he will be 'executed for revenge' by rival gangsters if returned to Albania.
Maksim Cela, 59, travelled to the UK on a fake passport to be with his family after serving 23 years in jail for killing a policeman and other gang-related activities in the Balkan country, an immigration tribunal heard.
The Albanian claims 'terrifying gang groups' will come after him to resolve a 'blood feud' if he is not allowed to stay.
Home Office lawyers say he is a 'violent terrorist' who should be deported.
At an Upper Tier Immigration Tribunal in central London on Monday, Cela said he was wrongly convicted of the crimes, and that his prosecution had been politically motivated.
Lawyers for the Home Office say he invented the story after learning that his serious offending meant he would not be able to claim asylum.
Cela, who was born in the Albanian city of Lushnje, claims he used to be a businessman, running a car dealership business in Germany having also worked in a dental clinic and a hospital.
But the tribunal heard he is a 'violent terrorist' who planned to detonate a bomb at a 12,000-seat football stadium in 2000.
After the plot came to light in 2001, an Albanian court jailed him for five years.
He was sentenced to 25 years jail in September 2006 for 'participation in criminal organisations', the murder of a police officer, and the manufacture and illegal possession of weapons and ammunition, the tribunal was told.
He was released in December 2022, having served more than 23 years of his 25-year sentence.
In December 2022 he left Albania for Spain, travelled to Italy and then flew to the UK on what he admitted was a false passport, arriving at Heathrow in January 2023.
When he was initially interviewed by the Home Office, Cela claimed that 'three terrifying gang groups' were 'coming after' him and his family because he was a member of the 'Lushnje gang', the tribunal heard.
A letter to the Home Office written on his behalf said rival gang members would 'execute him for revenge' if he returned.
Cela has since changed his story, Home Office lawyers say, claiming he was never really a member of the gang but had been set up.
'It was politically motivated,' Cela, who represented himself at the hearing, and spoke through an interpreter said.
'I was merely a businessman,' he added.
The Albanian told the tribunal there were four attempts to kill him while he was in prison.
The Home Office says he has exaggerated the threat from rival gangs, and could get protection from the Albanian authorities or relocate to another area of the country should he be deported.
Paul Skinner, representing the Home Office, asked Cela: 'It's right that you are someone who does and says whatever you want in order to get what you want isn't it?
'You really want to be in the UK to be with your wife and daughter and you are willing to do whatever it takes in order to stay.
'The Albanian state is taking steps to obviate the risks that Mr Cela may face,' Mr Skinner added.
Cela's asylum claim was rejected by a judge at the First Tier immigration tribunal, but a separate claim that his life was at risk from rival gangs was accepted.
His claim was based on the European Convention on Human Rights' Article Three which prohibits 'torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment'.
After an appeal by the Home Office, a panel of judges set aside the ruling, finding that there had been an 'error of law'.
The Upper Tier Tribunal will now make a decision on whether Cela can stay.
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Daily Mail
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Daily Mail
14 hours ago
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'What I do with my client, one month before, two months before, we start advertising on Indeed and all those job sites. 'We'll get candidates for interview. So, the worst candidates, we will record a conversation. The good ones we'll say, let's not record it. 'So then, if the Home Office does an inquiry as to why, you say I interviewed seven candidates, and if they say we need a proof, you have the proof.' He said once the worker was in place with a visa there would be no further checks from the Home Office to make sure he really was a specialist. 'They want people to come over here, because what is there in UK apart from immigration? How does UK make their money? Immigration.' Despite it being called a skilled worker visa, he said no specialist skill was required to get a certificate of sponsorship. 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The Home Office is just interested in the money you're getting.' He described how his phone rings 'non-stop' from 7am until midnight. The high volume of applicants meant sponsorship licences for skilled workers have become so popular in recent years that 'everybody' was opening businesses just to make money out of the scheme – including himself. He said he had a restaurant which he opened 'only for immigration purpose'. 'So, you know, we'll get a sponsor licence. 'We'll sponsor, get their money and then tell one of them that, OK, you take over the business, sell the business to him. 'In a year, if we can make like, £30,000, £40,000. Why not?' 'This is how everybody got into this business of sponsor licence. The business was very good in 2024. A lot of people made a lot of money.' 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Daily Mail
20 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Albanian drug dealer who illegally sneaked back into Britain weeks after being deported succeeds in remaining in the UK by judge
An Albanian drug dealer who sneaked back into Britain just weeks after being deported has succeed to remain in the UK - even after committing more crimes on his return. Stiljano Ziu has been allowed to stay in the UK despite the asylum court hearing he committed a 'flagrant' breach of immigration laws, having already been deported from the country once. Ziu was jailed for producing cannabis just months after entering Britain illegally, it was heard. He then 'took advantage of the early release scheme' by agreeing to deportation in exchange for finishing his sentence early. He then entered the UK again illegally just weeks later. During his second illegal stint in the UK, which is still ongoing, Ziu committed more drugs offences and was recently jailed for four and a half years. A crown court judge previously said of Ziu that he came to the UK 'prepared to do any activity, legal or illegal', the asylum court heard. However, after a long and complicated legal process he has won his fight to remain in the UK after the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the Upper Tribunal ruled in his favour. Ziu won his appeal due to his marriage to a Greek woman in the UK after entering the country for the second time. The Home Office had refused to give him a residence card after his marriage. Ziu won his case after the asylum court heard he was not a 'present threat'. Ziu may still face deportation as a result of his recent drugs conviction, Upper Tribunal Judge Jonathan Perkins said. The Upper Tribunal heard Ziu first entered the UK unlawfully in 2017 or 2018 and by November 2018 was convicted of producing cannabis charges and was jailed for nine months. He was released from his prison sentence early, on the basis he agreed to be deported in December 2018. However he was already back in early 2019. 'He returned within weeks in clear breach of the deportation order', the tribunal was told. 'There can be no clearer case of abuse of immigration laws. 'He took advantage of the early release scheme and had no intention of remaining in Albania. 'He had the resources, means and contacts to return illegally.' His presence in the UK went unnoticed until December 2020 when he applied for a residence card as the spouse of a Greek woman exercising treaty rights in the UK. He had met her upon his return and married her in April 2021. 'He is still benefitting from his illegal entry and worked illegally too', it was heard. The Home Office refused Ziu's request, leading to his case at the asylum court. During court hearings it had to be determined whether the Home Office had showed that Ziu presented a 'present threat'. At one hearing in 2022, the Home Office accepted that there was 'not a present serious threat in relation to a propensity to re-offend'. At a 2023 hearing, Ziu won the first stage of his appeal. The judge in 2023 criticised Ziu's 'flagrant and serious breach of UK immigration laws' but said the Home Office had not shown he was a 'present threat' of re-offending. The decision led to the Home Office appealing it at the Upper Tribunal. Before the Upper Tribunal hearing, Ziu wrote a letter stating that in November 2024 he was jailed for four and a half years for conspiring to supply class B drugs. The offending happened between January 2020 and June 2022. At the Upper Tribunal hearing, it was ruled that the Home Office had not successfully challenged the 2023 decision that Ziu was not a risk of re-offending. But, Judge Perkins admitted 'it may be that this case has been an academic exercise' because Ziu may now face deportation due to his recent conviction. Judge Perkins said: 'Putting everything together we are satisfied that the judge [in 2023] made a decision that was open to her and gave lawful reasons. 'We therefore dismiss the Secretary of State's appeal. 'What happens next is of course a matter for the Secretary of State. 'However, [Ziu] must understand that his recent conviction has resulted in a sentence that may require his deportation from the United Kingdom and that is something the Secretary of State will consider. 'Nevertheless... we find that the Secretary of State has failed to show that the [2023] tribunal erred in law and we dismiss the Secretary of State's appeal.'
