An £8million plan to remove 200 of Albania’s most dangerous criminals from British prisons has seen just 13 sent home in three years.

The scheme known as a prisoner transfer agreement was signed with Albania in 2023 to help reduce the prison population and ease the cost of housing foreign prisoners on the taxpayer.

Albanians are the largest foreign nationality in our prisons with roughly 1,000 locked up, which is 10 per cent of the non-British prison population.

Murderers like Koci Selamaj who received a life sentence for killing the teacher Sabina Nessa in London in 2021, can serve their sentences in their homeland under the agreement.

But for the deal to work the criminals, who have often arrived here illegally, have to agree to be returned with the approval of the Albanian and British governments.

A source in the Albanian Ministry of Justice said: ‘The goal was to transfer 200 Albanian prisoners serving more than four years, but only 13 have been transferred so far.’

One of the problems with the scheme is judges in Albania have failed to sign important legal paperwork to allow the transfers to be completed.

There is now a backlog of cases in Albania causing delays to the system.

To get the deal running Britain agreed to pay Albania £8million over two years to refurbish its prisons.

Payment to cover the costs of custody is provided to the Albanian Government for each prisoner upon transfer, calculated per day spent in prison. 

Accommodating a prisoner in one of our cells costs the British taxpayer £56,000 a year.

Taking Albanian murderers jailed for 35 years or more as examples, they will cost the taxpayer a minimum of £2million to house for the duration of their sentence. 

These include Erland Spahiu and Ali Qazimaj both serving 35 years for murder.

Selamaj was sentenced to a minimum of 36 years in Broadmoor Hospital for murdering Miss Nessa.

When he is ruled fit enough he will enter the prison population.  

Klodjan Copja, 30 was one of the first Albanians to be returned after he was jailed for 17 years at Kingston Crown Court in August 2017 for dealing cocaine.

Copja was the head of a large cocaine supply network responsible for importing £60million worth of drugs into the UK.

When he was caught, he was one of 42 people who taken together were jailed for 360 years.

A government spokeswoman said: 'Under this Government, returns and deportations are at their highest level in nearly a decade. 

'Prisoner Transfer Agreements are only one way in which we get foreign criminals out of our jails. 

'We have changed the law so they can now be deported earlier than ever before, and over 11,700 have been removed since July 2024.'