Albanian drug dealer hides behind European law to avoid deportation

Albanian drug dealer uses human rights to fight deportation: Crook jailed for ‘Deliveroo-style’ cocaine service hides behind European law to avoid being kicked out of Britain

• Eldjort Ajazi, 35, was handed a 45-month sentence in February 2021
• His case relies on the controversial ‘right to respect for family life’

An Albanian drug dealer jailed for his part in a ‘Deliveroo-style’ cocaine service is using European law to fight deportation.

Eldjort Ajazi acted as a courier for the drug enterprise, which is thought to have made up to £450,000 before it was brought down by police.

Now 35, Ajazi arrived in the UK in 2006 and remained in the country illegally until his arrest in 2020. He pleaded guilty for conspiracy to supply cocaine and was handed a 45-month sentence in February 2021. But the former construction worker is now appealing against an order that would force him to return to Albania.

His case relies on the controversial ‘right to respect for family life’ – as set out in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). This includes the rights of parents to have contact with their children.

Eldjort Ajazi (pictured) acted as a courier for the drug enterprise, which is thought to have made up to £450,000 before it was brought down by police

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is reportedly considering pulling the UK out of the ECHR to make it easier to deport migrants.

Yesterday, a court that hears appeals against Home Office decisions was told that Ajazi has a two-year-old son, who was born while he was in prison.

Angela Sharma, representing Ajazi, told the first-tier tribunal her client accepted he had been involved in a ‘serious crime in the UK’ and he was ‘remorseful for that’.

But she argued it would be ‘unduly harsh’ to separate Ajazi from his son and Zelihe Vehapaj, 22, the boy’s mother and Ajazi’s partner. Ms Vehapaj, herself an Albanian national, lives with their son in a London council flat while Ajazi lives with his brother in Norwich.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is reportedly considering pulling the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights to make it easier to deport migrants

Ajazi’s case relies on the controversial ‘right to respect for family life’ – as set out in the European Convention on Human Rights

Ajazi, who said he visits his son and partner four times a week, believes his life could be at risk in Albania due to a £26,000 debt he racked up from a cocaine addiction. However, an asylum application on the basis of these claims was rejected last year and Ajazi is yet to lodge an appeal.

A representative for the Home Office argued for the deportation to be enforced due to his involvement in a ‘particularly serious crime’ and a lack of evidence of Ajazi’s devotion to his family.

A decision on the appeal is expected in the coming weeks.

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