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Albanian murderer 'Babale' with phone in prison, Daily Mail: TikTok asks to be transferred to Albania
2025-08-22 09:58:47 / AKTUALITET
An Albanian man accused of murder has shared a video on TikTok from his cell in a British prison, begging to be transferred to a prison in Albania so he can see his family and escape what he calls "the terrible food."
Eugert Merizaj, 32, has been posting continuously on social media since he was sentenced to 32 years in prison in May 2022 for the shooting death of rival drug trafficker Hemawand Ali Hussein.
Using a mobile phone inside prison is illegal, but prison guards seem unable to stop Merizaj, writes the Daily Mail, who has even gone on live video playing online games to earn money.
In his latest video, posted this month, Merizaj claims that British authorities are preventing him from being transferred to Albania to serve the rest of his sentence there.
When asked when he expects to be sent home, he replied: "I've made all the applications. It seems to me that those of us with life sentences are not moving at all."
A prisoner transfer agreement between the United Kingdom and Albania came into force in May 2023. It aims to save taxpayers' money and allows the transfer of any Albanian national serving a sentence of over four years in British prisons, in order to serve the remainder of their sentence in Albania.
However, implementation of the agreement has been delayed and a source from the Albanian Prison Service told the Daily Mail that so far only 10 Albanian prisoners have been transferred.
In an earlier TikTok conversation discussing the possibility of returning to his homeland, Merizaj expressed his complaints about the British prison system.
“ I probably won’t have a phone there in an Albanian prison, but I know I can get one. I haven’t seen my family in seven years. I talk to them every day, but I haven’t met them physically. The food in this prison is terrible. You can’t speak Albanian here – only English. I think… who knows, maybe it will be worse in Albania. But the main reason I want to go back is to see my family. That matters more than anything else. ”
Although rarely prosecuted, possessing or using a cell phone in prison without permission constitutes a criminal offense.
Merizaj began sharing videos from his cell in 2023 and has even posted videos where he is seen winning money in online games.
He has also participated in TikTok's "Live Matches," where users film themselves chatting with other users for five minutes while asking viewers for online donations.
His social media posts suggest that Merizaj is enjoying a comfortable life inside his cell, says the Daily Mail, with a video released from his cell last year showing a television, speakers, games and a collection of Albanian-language books.
He has also been photographed on Instagram wearing Dolce & Gabbana sneakers that cost £550, and the photo with the caption in Albanian: Stronger than ever.
The British government is interested in reducing the number of foreigners in British prisons, to ease the financial burden on taxpayers, who pay around 40,000 pounds a year for each prison place.
Under the current early removal scheme, foreign prisoners of any nationality can be deported after serving 50% of their sentence in the UK. This percentage is expected to be reduced to 30% in September. Anyone deported under this scheme is free once they arrive in their country of origin and is not required to serve any further part of their sentence there.
There were 1,099 Albanians in prisons in England and Wales last year, making Albanians the largest group of foreign prisoners in these prisons, according to the Daily Mail.
Merizaj was part of a group that tricked cannabis trafficker Hemawand Ali Hussein into luring him to a house in Hartlepool in 2019, where he was then shot with a shotgun.
He was captured in Belgium after the murder and extradited to the UK. Three other members of the Albanian gang were convicted of manslaughter.
During the trial in 2022, Judge Justice Lavender accepted that Merizaj did not shoot the victim and was not inside the house when the murder occurred, but he was closely involved in planning it and had purchased weapons, including an axe.
A spokesman for the British Ministry of Justice said: "The majority of deportations take place through the Early Removal Scheme and not through Prisoner Transfer Agreements."
Transfer agreements are just one way to remove foreign criminals from our prisons. Since taking office, this government has deported 4,532 foreign criminals, a 14% increase over the previous 12 months.
The Home Office declined to comment. TikTok has been contacted by the Daily Mail for a response.
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