Albanian gangsters have been running the cocaine market in most parts of the UK for the past two decades, but have reportedly been warned to stay away from Liverpool.
Violent gangs from the Balkan nation have taken over the drug trade in Britain since they began moving into the country after the fall of communism in Albania in 1990.
Among them are the Hellbanianz, an infamous street gang based in the Gascoigne Estate in Barking, East London.
Unlike other gangs who prefer to go under the radar, the Hellbanianz regularly share their criminal lifestyle online with photos of guns, cars and cash on Instagram.
Alongside pictures from their rap videos, there are also snaps of cannabis lying amid the glittering jewellery and guns.
A London-based gangs expert, who asked not to be named, said criminals from Albania now dominate the cocaine market across the UK - but have been warned to stay away from Liverpool.
The expert told The Sun that local gangs "protect Liverpool", saying: "Albanian drug gangs are everywhere in the UK but not in Liverpool.
"The local gangs protect Liverpool and will not let them in. They have been warned.
"Geographically they are probably strongest in north and east London. After that, they are big in Manchester."
However, a former Liverpool criminal said Albanian gangs may also try to take over the northern city, where there is "a massive cocaine market" after police infiltrated the EncroChat encrypted phone network and weakened local Merseyside gangs.
He said: "The Encrochat hack has hit a lot of Liverpool drugs gangs hard so the Albanians might be thinking now is the time to make their move into Liverpool, where there is a massive cocaine market. And we have the port too which will interest them."
The expert added that Albanian gangs made contact with suppliers from Latin America, getting direct access to wholesalers to get drugs "cheap and fast".
They added that in 2005 the price of cocaine was around £37,000 per kilo, but these gangsters sold it for £32,000 - and "flooded the UK" with the Class A drug.
With the money earned, drug gangs then buy lands and build properties back in Albania, the expert claimed.
In November, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said Albanian crime gangs are smuggling hundreds of millions of pounds a year out of the UK and using Channel crossings to staff cannabis farms.
Senior NCA intelligence manager Ged McCann said Albanian gangs are "effectively bringing in the labour force for the cannabis grows", adding: "Many individuals that are arrested in cannabis grows arrived in the country a matter of days before on small boats."
Fellow intelligence manager Steve Brocklesby added: "Albanian OCGs (organised crime groups) in the UK, their main objective when they make money is to get it out of the country as soon as possible. So, they will smuggle it out of the UK into Albania in whatever form it comes.
"The estimates are that hundreds of millions of pounds UK sterling is leaving the UK and ending up in Albania, where it then gets semi-legitimised either into the banking system or to pay for construction work."
