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"Daily Mail" has dedicated an article to Albanian drug traffickers, focusing on the brothers Klevis and Artur Hoxhosmani.
While describing the luxurious life of the two brothers, the British media "Daily Mail" writes that they were arrested in one of the largest drug smuggling operations in Europe.
The brothers ran a number of businesses and owned luxury apartments and villas, not only in the most desirable parts of Albania's capital, but also on the country's thriving "Green Coast," near the Ionian Sea.
One of them also owned a yacht in Dubai, which was, in all likelihood, a magnet for influencers who were regularly invited aboard for luxurious parties.
They took a large number of luxury trips, between London, Dubai, the South of France and Albania.
"The luxurious life seems to have come to an abrupt end for both brothers, as it becomes clear that their success was built on much darker foundations than previously imagined."
A few weeks after the Rolls-Royce footage was posted online, Albanian investigators arrested Klevis and Artur Hoxhosmani on charges of running one of the largest drug smuggling operations in Europe.
The pair appeared in court in Tirana earlier this month, charged with conspiring to smuggle £335m worth of cocaine from Latin America to Britain and the EU. Prosecutors allege the pair controlled a highly sophisticated pan-European network involving at least 16 operatives whose reach extended into “international criminal markets”, with one of the “executive branches” based in Britain.
By hiding the drugs in shipments of legitimate goods, such as boxes of bananas and bags of cocoa beans, it is alleged that “tons of narcotics were transported to ports in Belgium, the Netherlands or overland to France and the United Kingdom” by truck drivers working for genuine export companies.
Investigators in Albania, where the pair are being held in custody awaiting a full trial, have already seized a yacht and a fleet of cars, including a Mercedes-Benz AMG G63 – a luxury SUV that sells for more than £140,000, plus a Rolex and a Richard Mille wristwatch .
In a Daily Mail investigation, which raises even more troubling questions about Britain's troubled immigration system, it was revealed that the brothers were able to start building their alleged drug empire after moving to the UK, initially as asylum seekers.
They were based in Dorset, where locals described them as "neighbours from hell", with one nickname calling Clevis "Ali Baba" because his associates appeared to be 40 thieves.
Klevis has since accumulated several convictions, including one for beating a woman, while Interior Ministry sources say there was an open police investigation for suspected drug offenses against him at the time of his arrest in Albania.
The emergence of the brothers' disturbing story comes amid reports that the number of cross-border drug smuggling cases handled by Britain's organised crime police has more than doubled in a single year, putting law enforcement under increasing pressure.
Meanwhile, the Border Force is on track to seize a record volume of Class A drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, for the second year in a row.
“Klevis and Artur, 42, were two of four brothers born in the town of Burrel during the final years of the country’s harsh and insular communist regime. This meant they grew up in the turmoil following the fall of dictator Enver Hoxha, when the economy plunged into a sudden slump and law and order collapsed.
Two sources who are part of the Albanian community in the UK have told the Daily Mail that, like a large number of their contemporaries, the Hoxhosmani brothers decided to leave Albania and try their luck in Britain. Artur came to the UK around 1999, they said, followed by Klevis a few years later.
Home Office sources say there is evidence of an asylum application for Artur, albeit under a different date of birth than his registered Albanian records, a tactic often used by Albanian applicants to make it harder for the Home Office to carry out checks. Details of Klevis’ application to remain in the UK are not public, but he apparently faced a battle with the Home Office when the latter tried to appeal a First Instance Immigration Tribunal decision to allow him to remain. This was rejected by a judge, the Judicial Service said .
Until 2013, they lived in Bournemouth, where Klevis was the director of Crystal Hand Carwash. He also ran a tyre shop and is still registered as the manager of a café in the town centre.
Electoral rolls and other public records suggest they lived an itinerant life in the seaside resort, moving between numerous properties in and out of town.
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