Albanian drug dealer says he can't be deported because it will harm son's football career

An Albanian drug dealer convicted of offences in Italy appealed against his extradition as it would harm his son’s chances of becoming a footballer. Elis Lila, 40, arrived in the UK in 2016 on the back of a lorry after being convicted for drug trafficking and facilitating prostitution in 2012 by Italian authorities before returning to Albania.

He has not served any of his 11-year sentence and currently works in the UK as a self-employed tiler, having been given leave to remain in the UK for two-and-a-half years. He lives with his wife and three children, with two of his sons understood to be on the books of Watford FC, with his eldest understood to be on the cusp of a scholarship with a Premier League Club. He has spent four years fighting his extradition to Italy, claiming that doing so would breach Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) that protects his right to a family life.

In 2021, a district judge ordered that Lila should be returned to Italy under five European Arrest Warrants, reported Mail Online.

But the convicted criminal appealed the ruling, with his case being heard in March.

His legal team claimed that he had been living a stable life since arriving in the country, as they set out the impact of his absence on his family.

His report states: “He was a young man in his early twenties when he committed those offences. He is now a married man of 40 years of age, supporting a close family with three children.

“He has been living a stable life with his family since his arrival in the UK. He has built a business in the UK which enables him financially to support his family

“He and his wife organise their lives so as to provide the practical day-to-day support needed to enable his eldest children to build on their footballing skills and develop their potential as future professional football players.

“There is a very real risk that, if extradited to Italy, after serving his remaining sentence, the appellant will not be permitted to return to live in the UK.

“The eldest sons' prospects as potential professional footballers and the practical problems that would result from the appellant's absence was in evidence before the District Judges and formed part of the overall evaluation of proportionality.”

However, his case was dismissed, and the judge told him that he knew he faced the prospect of extradition when he set up his life in the UK.

Justice Moulds said: “I am satisfied that the appellant was under no illusion when he came to the UK in 2016 that he faced the real risk of proceedings seeking his return to Italy to serve his outstanding prison sentences.

“He has built his life in the UK since then in that knowledge.”

Whilst acknowledging the difficult impact on his family, the judge said that his children would still be able to get to football training and would not be impacted too heavily.

He added: “Sadly, emotional distress is not unusual in extradition cases.

“I have no doubt that the Academy will offer what support they can to the family. If she closes the business, then I still find that she will continue to ensure that their son is able to attend the Academy.”

It comes after an Albanian drug dealer who posed for pictures surrounded by £250,000 of cash was allowed to remain in the UK. The Home Office and National Crime Agency (NCA) sought to deport Olsi Beheluli, 33, who was jailed for 11 years for his “senior role” in a heroin drug-dealing gang.

The organised criminal was arrested with eight kilograms of high-purity heroin with an estimated street value of £200,000, an amount the NCA and the Home Office claim shows his seniority in the gang. However, a lower-tier tribunal judge rejected the claim that the amount of drugs in his possession at the time of his arrest proved his prior participation in criminality.