Home Secretary Priti Patel vowing to deport more foreign criminals
(Picture: PA Wire)Twenty-three “dangerous foreign criminals” were flown back to Albania from Britain on Thursday including drug dealers, a kidnapper and a paedophile.
They also included members of organised crime gangs and one individual with no right to be in the UK.
They were serving combined prison sentences of more than 72 years.
The criminals included:
* An individual sentenced to 18 years for Class A (cocaine) drug supply worth more than £2 million.
* A person who was part of an organised crime group and convicted of supplying class A drugs (cocaine), and sentenced to more than ten years in jail.
* An individual sentenced to three years imprisonment for attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and to meet a child following grooming.
* Another person sentenced to four years imprisonment for kidnapping and actual bodily harm, who was also part of an organised crime group.
Commenting on the deportations, Home Secretary Priti Patel said:⯓These individuals are responsible for some of the most appalling crimes, including rape, violent crime and serious drugs offences. They have violated both our laws and our values and left their victims living with the scars of the crimes that they committed.
“This Government will use every means available to remove foreign nationals who have committed crimes against our citizens and we have recently brought forward the Borders Act to help end the cycle of last-minute claims and appeals that can delay removals.”
Last month, 190 foreign national offenders were removed from the UK on both charter and scheduled flights.
Among them were were criminals convicted for the following offences; two for manslaughter, eight for rape, 75 for drug crimes, one for attempted murder and 14 for violent crime including actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm.
The Home Office stressed since March 2021 more than 10,000 people have been removed from the UK by both scheduled and charter flights, with 85 flights chartered to 13 different countries.
The flight on Thursday was conducted in co-operation with the Albanian government, it added.
