11 hours ago
Albanian wanted for ‘ordering hit in blood feud' lived in Britain undetected for years
An Albanian fugitive wanted for allegedly ordering a murder in a blood feud in his home country has lived in Britain undetected for four years.
Lorenc Lala, 47, was arrested by police this week after Albanian law enforcement tracked him down to the UK and issued a warrant seeking his arrest and extradition for trial in his home country.
He is alleged to have organised the payment of 50,000 euros (£42,000) for the murder of Albi Bashaliu in 2021 in revenge for the previous killing of another man in the village of Gjocaj in Peqin.
Lala is understood to have fled Albania to Britain in the belief that it provided a safer location outside the reach of the European arrest warrant.
Since Britain left the EU, it is no longer part of the warrant system.
'A new generation of Albanians involved in organised crime and wanted in Albania, Italy, Greece or Germany are entering the UK illegally mostly in the back of lorries,' said an expert on Albanian organised crime.
'They are using the UK as a secure place to avoid as much as they can any European Warrant Arrest issued for them.'
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: 'The UK cannot become some sort of safe haven for dangerous criminals. We need a crackdown on border security to ensure illegal immigrants and dangerous criminals cannot enter the UK.
'I am concerned that this Albanian suspect might try to exploit our weak human rights laws to stay here. That's why the human rights act needs to be repealed for immigration matters.'
Lala was arrested by the Metropolitan Police extradition unit and appeared before Westminster magistrates on charges of conspiracy to murder in Albania.
He is currently being held in custody before a further hearing in July as Albania seeks to extradite him.
In a statement, the Albanian State Police said he had been charged in absentia for his alleged 'involvement in a blood feud murder, creating the conditions to kill, and for being a member of an organised crime group.'
'The killing of Albi Bashaliu took place in 2021. Lorenc Lala was the organiser of that murder, financing others to carry it out and creating the conditions for the crime to happen. He then helped the killer flee the crime scene,' said the statement.
After the murder, Lala - who was also known by the alias Kristian Lala - fled Albania. He went into hiding in the UK. His whereabouts in the UK was eventually established through information shared by Albanian police with the UK authorities.
Kreshnik Ajazi, the head of the prosecutor's office in Elbasan, a city in central Albania, who investigated this murder said they had solved the case after a member of the criminal group decided to cooperate with the police.
'His arrest in the UK and potential extradition by British courts is a major success and continues the excellent relationship between our authorities in terms of mutual cooperation in the criminal justice field,' he said.
A Home Office spokesman said: 'The UK has extensive arrangements in place to work with law enforcement partners across the world, including Albania, to ensure that the UK can never be a safe haven for those seeking to evade justice.'
A Home office source said it had formal extradition arrangements with Albania. Prior to leaving the EU, the UK only operated the European Arrest Warrant with EU Member States, which does not include Albania.
The Telegraph revealed in 2023 how the record illegal Channel crossings of more than 12,000 Albanians in 2022 led to a crime surge, with 80 Albanian migrants being sentenced to 130 years in jail in the first four months of that year alone.
A series of agreements between the UK and Albania to crackdown on crime and fast track deportations has led to the number of Albanians crossing the channel to drop to just 630 last year.
