
The dream of Albanians to go illegally to England is not a very easy road, both in terms of the conditions in which the transport provided by the clandestine groups takes place, as well as for the final result, as the police often "wait at the gate" for turn them back again.
But what happens to the persons, the group, or the mafia that takes over the journey of Albanians through several European countries initially, with the final destination being England. Spanish media have reported that a group of 7 Albanians were handcuffed two days ago, after a police operation launched in 2019, while they were caught red-handed trying to illegally cross several Albanians, including minors, towards England.
According to the Spanish media, the Albanian mafia based in Bizkaia had asked the minors for 15,000 euros for their entry into the United Kingdom, where they were initially put as tourists on ferries from the Port of Bilbao and also from Santander, so that they could then reach were going to the final destination.
This was the price of the "ticket" that the Albanian mafia in Santurtzi, Muskiz and Portugalete billed to its "clients" for irregular passage to the English coast. The police were able to arrest 7 Albanians, 5 of them in Bizkaia and 2 others, suspected of being leaders of the clandestine organization, at Barajas airport in Madrid, when they were preparing to return to Albania, where they had a high standard of living. .
Despite the checks and occasional police operations, a good part of the Albanians who have chosen this "profession" have been able to earn a lot of money. In this case, those arrested in the last operation earned from 3,000 to 15,000 euros for each pass.
Foreign media write that in not a few cases, the traffickers hid the "clients" in places where their lives could be endangered, while they kept their credentials so that they could have them in hand until they paid off the debt for illegal crossing.
But how was this transition accomplished? Those responsible for the group stayed in Spain (not more than the three months stipulated by law), while those responsible for promoting the transit of Albanians often used compatriots living in Bizkaia.
Also, the arrested had a rather complex system to collect and send the money to Albania without being detected, using different credit cards and multiple passports of different nationalities in order not to leave a trace.
Since 2017, the coastline of Zierbena and Santurtzi has become a regular settlement for Albanians waiting in Biscayan to sneak in as tourists on ferries to the United Kingdom. Most arrived legally in Spain after a rule was modified in 2010 to allow citizens of the Mediterranean country to enter the European Union without a visa as long as their stay did not exceed 90 days. However, this change did not affect Britain, which has continued to have its borders closed to Albanians.