Albanian drug lords in Britain in crisis for workers, recruit on TikTok: Get 30% of the profit

Albanian drug gangs are openly recruiting cannabis farmers on TikTok, amid a labor shortage in Britain.

According to The Telegraph, gang bosses are using social media to advertise cannabis-growing jobs and are offering special deals where instead of being paid for expenses, farm workers will receive up to 30 percent of profits from street sales. of drugs.

The financial incentives have become necessary due to a dramatic fall in the number of Albanians entering the UK illegally in small boats and a sharp increase in the number of Albanians being jailed for growing cannabis or deported after arriving in Britain.

Commenting on The Telegraph's findings, Angela Eagle, Minister for Border Security, said: "It is shocking that criminal gangs are using social media to prey on vulnerable people, luring them to work in appalling conditions and grow drugs. like cannabis with false promises of profit".

Albanian gangs have managed to dominate the local cannabis market, where plants are grown in homes or cheap industrial facilities using hydroponic technology imported from farms in their homeland.

“In the last decade, they have usurped the Vietnamese as the main supplier of cannabis to UK users. Their hold on the market was strengthened by the influx of a steady flow of workers from a group of around 12,000 illegal Albanian immigrants arriving in 2022," writes The Telegraph.

Quick eviction offers

Since then, however, the numbers have dwindled as the government tightened enforcement and signed fast-track deportation deals with Albania. Last year, the numbers fell to just 900 and for the first six months of this year, only 150 Albanians have crossed the Channel in small boats.

At the same time, the number of Albanians imprisoned for tending illegal farms has increased. In July, 29 received sentences ranging from eight months to two years and four months for producing cannabis to supply the UK market. Another 24 were sentenced in August, with the majority awaiting sentencing this month.

"Albanian organized crime is offering a percentage of the drug production to their compatriots to work as cannabis farmers," said an Albanian law enforcement expert. "These unusual steps are related to the lack of people willing to lock themselves up at home to cultivate cannabis. Such ads are placed on TikTok offering up to a 30 percent share of the sale depending on the amount of cannabis produced.”

"Workers are wanted for a shepherd's house"

An ad in Albanian, seen by The Telegraph, said: "I am the owner of a house with cannabis. I talked to my worker and then everything went wrong. Now I am giving this employee 30 percent of the profit made in that house without living expenses."

Another said: "We are looking for workers for the grass houses. If you care for 80 plants, you get 25 percent of the product and we pay the expenses. Comment or DM”.

A third offered a £9,000 salary for three months' work inside a cannabis house, including growing plants, harvesting and packaging.

A fourth with a photo of a masked man with a heavy gold chain hanging across his chest said: "Respect to all the guys who work for 30 percent."

Typical of the prisoners is Edison Cenaj, 21, who was arrested at a house in Brynmaër in south Wales, where police discovered he was looking after more than 120 plants worth up to £85,000. He was jailed for 32 weeks.

His lawyer Tochi Ejimofo told Cardiff Crown Court that Cenaj was vulnerable and had been working on the cannabis farm to pay off debts to the gang who brought him to the UK illegally. He had come to the UK to look for work, but now hoped to return to Albania and study sports science.

TikTok said it was committed to ensuring the app was not used to take advantage of vulnerable people and did not allow any content that facilitates or coordinates people smuggling or related criminality.

It said the posts had been removed or would be removed and were being investigated for violating community guidelines.