The close cooperation between Albanian law enforcement agencies and those in Great Britain has produced very positive results in the fight against illegal migration and organized crime. Interior Minister Taulant Balla said during the meeting of the Joint Supervisory Committee of Great Britain for the fight against illegal immigration and other criminal phenomena, where Kosovo also participated, that the real time exchange of information between police structures and the close cooperation with SPAK serve to prevent and combat criminal activities in both our countries.
“The results so far are good, I do not hesitate to call them extraordinary and show that the cooperation of our structures is productive, successful and an example for other countries as well. For the year 2023, I would like to inform Minister Sveçla that in cooperation with British law enforcement agencies, we have carried out 50 deportation operations and a total of 2250 Albanian citizens have been deported for various reasons, such as: illegal stay, cultivation of narcotic plants, refusal of asylum, forgery of documents, theft or other criminal acts. For the year 2024, we have so far carried out 9 operations with 1108 repatriated citizens”, Balla underlined.
The Albanian Minister stated that the parties have a duty to work quickly and hard in order to achieve positive results in stopping the illegal immigration of Albanian citizens to Great Britain.
“These results are undoubtedly a good start and we must do everything possible so that this progress is irreversible and it is also a good example of amplifying these results in cooperation with other countries in the region, as it is welcome in the case of the Republic of Kosovo. The presence of Minister Sveçla in this meeting is the most important message for deepening the cooperation within us, already on a trilateral level, to fight phenomena that know no borders, such as organized crime or illegal migration. We must continue to consolidate these results by reiterating the need for logistical support with equipment, for which I am always grateful to the British side, and which is currently being evaluated, especially with regard to the needs of the Criminal Investigation Department, which will increase the quality of cooperation and contribute to achieving even better results”, said Balla.
“I gladly accepted the invitation of my friend and counterpart, Minister Balla, to join forces and ahieve success in our efforts to fight and curb irregular migration. Our police enjoy excellent cooperation, which, in addition to specific areas, also includes joint operational cooperation, joint police patrols for the fight against any type of cross-border illegality. As we have created facilities for border crossing between our two countries, we are committed to safe borders for our countries and difficult to cross for individuals or criminal groups that threaten the security of our countries. In every regional or even wider forum, as the Minister of Internal Affairs, I have expressed the full readiness of our institutions for the creation of concrete mechanisms like the one at hand, where we discuss our further actions in managing and fighting illegal migration. “, declared the Minister of Internal Affairs of Kosovo.
“The challenges for the next year will be to build the future on this success, which is the result of the mechanisms we have created, mainly the Joint Task Force on Migration. The Task Force started as a bilateral organization between Albania and the United Kingdom, mainly focusing on illegal immigration, and now we have the opportunity to expand it with a more comprehensive program in the coming year. It will not only be about illegal immigration, but it will be an opportunity to strengthen bilateral relations, both between the United Kingdom and Kosovo, but also between Albania and Kosovo. It is a very important strategic relationship, not only in the area of organized crime, but also in general areas of security and defense in general,” said the British Government’s Special Coordinator for Illegal Immigration, Stuart Skeates.
This next conference in Tirana is a follow up to the one held last September in the framework of the Berlin Process on Home Affairs and aims to reflect on comprehensive and solution-oriented approaches to effectively manage migration in the Western Balkans and to prevent migrant smuggling and human trafficking.