Albanian people smugglers are offering migrants comprehensive “package deals” to Britain through TikTok advertisements, including accommodation and employment upon arrival.
The deals, starting from £2,500, promise migrants housing and cash-in-hand work, with payment required only upon reaching Dover.
It marks the first time traffickers have publicly marketed such all-inclusive packages to potential migrants.
The adverts employ professional marketing techniques similar to TV commercials, targeting Albanians seeking more lucrative work opportunities than available in their homeland.
Albanian people smugglers are offering migrants comprehensive ‘package deals’ to Britain through TikTok
GB News/Getty
Smugglers will provide “specialised people” to collect arrivals and arrange private rented accommodation and black market employment.
One TikTok account called “Journey to London” displayed Albanian and UK flags, advertising: “We offer journeys from Albania to England.”
The adverts promised “secure journeys” and “competitive prices,” highlighting their use of “specialised people.”
One post, viewed over 1,800 times, showed a smuggler claiming: “I am in Dover waiting for my clients to arrive on a boat and for the payment.”
Another advert featured photos of boats, promising “secure crossing 100 per cent” for £2,500 per person, with “payment in sterling upon arrival in the UK.”
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The adverts promised ‘secure journeys’ and ‘competitive prices,’ highlighting their use of ‘specialised people’
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In one example, smugglers offered a couple a £12,000 package including flights to the UK, a £1,000-per-month London house, and “simple work.”
The smugglers sent estate agent-style photos of available properties to prospective clients.
They urged migrants to take advantage of the Christmas period, telling one couple: “You can do this over Christmas. Its messy and busy at the airports.”
The deal involved finding passports that matched the migrants’ appearances, with smugglers promising a “99 per cent guarantee” for the flight option.
The couple were given choices between travelling by boat, aircraft or lorry.
Albanian “migrant brokers” typically act as middlemen for larger organised crime groups, earning commission for recruiting customers in Albania.
These middlemen connect migrants to criminal networks, often Kurdish-run operations managing boat crossings from northern France.
Migrants arriving from small boats on Boxing Day
GB News
One significant arrest was Eglantin Doksani, jailed for nearly ten years in July for transporting hundreds across the Channel in 2022.
Doksani worked with Iranian trafficker Hewa Rahimpur, who was jailed for 11 years in Belgium for smuggling 10,000 people.
WhatsApp messages revealed Doksani negotiating deals, telling Rahimpur: “Next time bro Im gonna bring better all together for ten people 30K£.”
TikTok said it had proactively removed the advertising posts and directs users to the Stop the Traffik website for information about trafficking dangers.
A Home Office spokesman said: “These despicable people-smuggling gangs are exploiting vulnerable people by peddling lies on social media and placing them in horrendous conditions, working for next to nothing.”
The spokesman added that arrests for illegal working have risen by nearly a third since July compared to last year, with enforced returns increasing by 25 per cent.
The Home Office is working with the National Crime Agency and social media companies to swiftly remove online adverts promoting boat crossings.