Just 13 Albanian prisoners deported from UK in flop £8million scheme that was meant to send 200 home

JUST 13 Albanian prisoners have been sent home in an £8million scheme meant to return 200 of their most serious criminals. The programme was launched three years ago to make killers, rapists and drug dealers do time in their home country and cut taxpayer costs. Koci Selamaj, 41, got a minimum of 36 years for murdering teacher Sabina Nessa, 28, in a South East London park in 2021 Sabina was brutally murdered as she walked to a pub in Kidbrooke, South East London, to meet an old pal Credit: PA Albanians have been the largest foreign nationality in jails over the past seven years, with their estimated 940 prisoners making up roughly nine to 12 per cent of the non-UK offender population. A Sun on Sunday probe this year found that five more of their countrymen are jailed every day. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Many are illegal migrants who arrived on small boats. Others paid up to £20,000 to be smuggled here in lorries. The UK and Albania announced the jail transfer in 2023, meant to cost £8million over its first two years. But a source at the Ministry of Justice in Albania said: “The goal was to transfer 200 Albanian prisoners serving more than four years, but only 13 have been transferred so far.” Among those still awaiting the boot are 15 murderers serving life sentences. They include Koci Selamaj, 41, who got a minimum of 36 years for murdering teacher Sabina Nessa, 28, in a South East London park in 2021. Most read in The Sun He attacked two prison officers at HMP Frankland in County Durham in May 2023. Housing an inmate in UK prisons costs taxpayers an average of £56,000 a year. Speaking about the prisoner transfer scheme back in 2023, the then-Lord Chancellor and Tory Justice Secretary, Alex Chalk, said: “This deal will speed up the removal of these offenders and give victims confidence that serious criminals will continue to face justice.” Albania asked the UK Government to provide £8million to strengthen its prison system to implement the scheme. The Government agreed to give £4million per year, but has stressed it only pays part of it per prisoner sent back. The hold-ups are thought to be due to backlogs in Albanian courts, which must recognise a British sentence. The Government said: “Prisoner Transfer Agreements are only one way we get foreign criminals out of our jails. “Over 11,700 have been removed since July 2024.”