‘Albanian gang bosses’ given British residency after marrying EU brides

Two Albanian brothers alleged by the National Crime Agency (NCA) to have been heading a major drugs and people smuggling organised crime gang from London were living designer lifestyles despite having no significant income sources, immigration appeals heard.

Fation Dauti, 39, and younger brother Isuf Dauti cannot return to the UK from Albania after they have now both lost appeals against Home Office banning orders.

Both of them came to the UK illegally, but were granted indefinite leavce to remain after each married women from the EU countries Latvia and Bulgaria respectively, separate hearings of the Special Immigration Appeal Commission (SIAC) heard.

The cases heard of limited incomes from construction and cleaning work, but spending on luxury items, including sports cars, a Chelsea flat and shopping at Harrods.

In the latest case, which was finalised on August 28, the SIAC dismissed an appeal by Isuf Dauti, 32, against the Home Office refusals to grant him indefinite leave to remain in the UK on August 13, 2021.

Fation Dauti had earlier lost an appeal against the 2019 revocation of his right to remain at a 2021 hearing.

Both brothers could only be named after the Sunday Express launched successful legal challenges against their respective anonymity orders in 2021 and this year.

The Home Office revoked Fation’s leave to remain after he returned to Albania in 2021 after it received an evidence file from the NCA which said he was a risk to national security.

The NCA alleged that he was capable of “extreme violence” and “an influential member” of a London-based Albanian criminal network involved in cocaine importation, cannabis production, people smuggling and money laundering.

Fation Dauti, who is also known as Fation Dautaj, came to the UK aged 14.

He was given temporary residency in 2012, because he was married to a Latvian EU national.

It became permanent in August 2017, but the Home Office revoked it in September 2019, based on intelligence from the NCA, which was investigating his network, but had been unable to charge him.

Fation Dauti denies involvement in crime and argued during the appeal he just knows socially, or was related to, several other gang members named in the judgement.

These included cousin Alket Dauti, 33, who was arrested by NCA officers in June 2018 in Penge, south London, two months after meeting Fation, before being extradited to Belgium in January 2019 to serve a 10-year people smuggling sentence.

In March 2021 SIAC judges accepted Home Office and NCA representations that Fation Dauti would remain involved in crime and pose a “serious threat to public security and safety,” if allowed to stay.

The appeal heard he had just one UK bank account, funded by cash payments and limited earnings from a loft company, but enjoyed nightclubs, designer goods and top end vehicles, including a Bentley, Range Rover and Jaguar, hired from a drug dealer’s car rental business.

He argued the ban caused him and his wife “real distress” and he wished to resume his life with her in the UK, while he was in Tirana, Albania, where he owned a Piano Bar.

Photos of Fation Dauti with a Kalashnikov, and an Israeli pistol were found on his phone during a border check at Dover, SIAC heard.

Martin Matthews, NCA Operations Manager, told the hearing in 2017 the older Dauti brother was assessed to be the “leader” of the Albanian network.

He said several arrests were made, kilos of cocaine seized and illegal immigrants detained, during investigations into the network, but there was limited admissible evidence to arrest Fation.

The judgement said: “Mr Matthews described (Dauti) as being identified in 2017 as a subject of interest, being assessed to be the leader, of an ethnic-Albanian Organised Crime Group (OCG) which was actively engaged in drug importation, money laundering and migrant smuggling throughout Europe.

Lawyers for Fation argued that although he was not involved in organised crime, if he were identified, those who are could wrongly believe he was, making him a possible target for genuine criminals with commercial interests in drugs.

Fation had lived in the UK since arriving illegally in 2012.

During the SIAC appeal for Isuf Dauti in May this year, the Home Office alleged that he had taken over the UK wing of the organised crime network after his brother Fation was banned.

Isuf claimed he had no involvement in organised crime and posed no security threat, so was seeking to overturn the ban stopping him returning to the UK.

In its appeal evidence, the Home Office wrote: “Among the activities, which the respondent assesses (him) to have engaged in is the importation and distribution of class A drugs and facilitation of illegal migration. (He) is assessed to pose a risk of violence in order to pursue criminal aims and launder proceeds of criminal conduct.”

The Home Office listed seven “organised criminals”, some convicted, who it said he is associated with, including his brother.

The Home Office added: “Following Fation Dauti’s exclusion, the NCA (National Crime Agency) assessed that (Isuf) ‘assumed a position of responsibility in the OCG (organised crime group)’. (He) is personally active within the drugs trade in the UK as a controlling member.”

The Home Office said NCA investigators obtained Isuf’s bank statements and rental agreements, which were compared to HMRC evidence.

Despite having a joint income with his now-estranged wife of £26,000 to £30,000 a year, in the six years between 2015 and 2021 they spent around £139,000 on rent, including £2,700 a month for a year to rent a Chelsea apartment from July 2019.

There was spending on items from Harrods, Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana.

The Home Office said: “(He) had substantial financial commitments on property he was renting which are difficult to reconcile with his income.”

Isuf Dauti also denies any involvement in crime, drugs or people trafficking and claims he has wrongly been excluded based on the actions of other people he happens to know and he is being singled out just for “being Albanian”.

He denied being a security risk and said the exclusion breaches the EU Settlement Scheme and human rights laws, and his main place of residence is the UK.

Much of the NCA evidence was provided to the SIAC panel in secret “closed” sessions for reasons of national security and a separate closed judgement has not been published.

The SIAC panel concluded based on the secret intelligence that it saw that Isuf was a leading member of the OCG and involved in importing and distributing class A drugs, with a propensity for violence. It also found him involved in money laundering, but that there was no evidence of his involvement in people smuggling.

His appeal was dismissed.