Thursday 10 November 2022 05:47 PM Flight takes 22 Albanian criminals and illegal immigrants back to their home ... trends now
A heavily guarded deportation flight carrying 22 Albanian criminals and illegal migrants left the UK at dawn on Wednesday.
The secretive flight to the capital Tirana was personally authorised by Home Secretary Suella Braverman in a bid to deter Albanians from slipping into Britain by crossing the Channel in small boats from France.
Most of the deportees were delivered in secure vans to the waiting plane from closed deportation centres where they had been held as convicted criminals or for entering Britain clandestinely by sea as economic migrants rather than asylum seekers.
Some of the Albanians are believed to have been earmarked for deportation in the past few weeks during vetting at the Manston processing camp in Kent, which has struggled to cope with an upsurge of thousands of boat arrivals.
A heavily guarded deportation flight carrying 22 Albanian criminals and illegal migrants left the UK at dawn on Wednesday (pictured depicts deported Albanians arriving in Tirana from France, 2017)
Checks: Some of the Albanians are believed to have been earmarked for deportation in the past few weeks at the Manston processing camp in Kent (picture from 2017 depicting Albanians deported from France)
At least one of those due to fly out was given a last minute reprieve after a London-based lawyer successfully fought the case saying 'more consideration' was needed by the Home Office.
The flight landed at Tirana's Mother Teresa airport at 10am on Wednesday. The 22 were then taken to an on-site police station, which has been partially paid for by the British to process those returning from the UK.
Each had their passport stamped by the Albanian government showing they are banned from entering the Schengen area of Europe for three years. It means they cannot use 90-day EU entry visas allowing them to fly, drive, or get buses to northern France or Belgium for a Channel crossing.
The Mail understands that the Home Office insisted on complete confidentiality about the flight. A computerised manifest giving the names of deportees was not made available to the plane's staff attendants on the outward journey.
'There is an air of conspiracy about this flight,' a UK border official said. 'There is no obvious computer trail. It was arranged largely by
