Albanian asylum-seeking criminal says he should not be sent back to face justice in his own country because gang that shot at him 30 times with AK-47 will be waiting

By RORY TINGLE, HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT and JON AUSTIN Published: 00:47, 21 April 2026 | Updated: 00:47, 21 April 2026 An Albanian criminal should not be sent back to face justice because assassins who previously tried to kill him will return to 'finish the job', a court heard.  Irfan Azizi told an extradition hearing that he narrowly escaped with his life when he was shot at '30 times' during an attempted hit in 2020, which prompted him to flee to Britain.  The 36-year-old said the crime group that tried to kill him 'also carries out hits for judges and politicians' and would seek revenge if he returns to Albania.  The serial offender is now claiming asylum in the UK alongside his wife, with the pair previously put up in a taxpayer-funded hotel.  Yesterday, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard Azizi is wanted in Albania to serve a one-year prison sentence after being convicted in his absence for possessing a mobile phone on remand for other offences.  During a bizarre exchange, Azizi admitted he had already paid the Albanian judge to make the case go away and suggested this meant he was no longer a wanted man.  UK court records show Azizi and another Albanian man were each jailed for six months at Swindon Crown Court in April 2025 for having fake German driving licenses.  Azizi also has a long criminal history in Albania, including involvement in illegal gambling rackets.  In February 2019, he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for theft before receiving an additional jail term of two years and three months in June for stealing a Mercedes-Benz B-Class. But just five months later he was free and back on the streets.  Irfan Azizi arriving at Westminster Magistrates' Court in central London yesterday  The attempt on his life came on November 29, 2020. He described seeing a vehicle pull up outside a petrol station before a gunman leapt out carrying a Kalashnikov.  'They started shooting at me, around 30 bullets,' he told Westminster Magistrates' Court. 'A bullet smashed my hand which shattered in 13 places.' The organiser of the hit has been widely reported in Albanian media as Talo Çela, a former close friend of Azizi who is currently one of Albania's most wanted criminals.   Çela is alleged to have links to the Çopja crime gang, a major supplier of cocaine to London.  Azizi, the son of a farmer, said he fled Albania on a bus five weeks after the shooting, arriving in Britain a few days later.  He stayed with friends and a cousin, before moving in September 2021 to Sheffield, where he was joined by his wife.  Azizi claimed to have been a 'rich businessman' in Albania with three petrol stations, as well as car washes and a cafe bar.  But after his wife joined him in the UK, the couple claimed asylum on the basis that they feared persecution in their home country and were put up in a taxpayer-funded asylum hotel in Wiltshire.  The serial offender is now claiming asylum in the UK alongside his wife, with the pair previously put up in a taxpayer-funded hotel They were then moved to their current accommodation in Taunton alongside their four children, who receive specialist support from the local council.  Azizi told his extradition hearing that he had paid to have the phone theft charge thrown out, but claimed he had done nothing wrong.    He told a judge: 'This is the method you pay money to close the case. I did not cheat, I corrupted. If there is a prison sentence and if you want it to be eliminated you pay.'  Azizi insisted that he would cooperate with the investigation into his attempted murder and go back to Albania to testify, but only if the main suspect is found and charged. He said he had already given a full statement to Albanian prosecutors.  During cross-examination, Mr Ball suggested Azizi was exaggerating the capabilities of the crime group that had tried to kill him. He pointed out that there had been no threats to him during five years in the UK.  He added that his wife and four children had not been threatened while they were living in Albania before joining him in the UK in September 2021.  'If you think this group is so powerful, why do you think you have not been threatened since?' Mr Ball asked.  'You say they have the power to kill people internationally, yet there is no evidence they have made any threat to you is there?' The organiser of the hit on Azizi has been widely reported in Albanian media as Talo Çela, his former close friend  Azizi replied: 'These men have done killings for the Prime Minister by his order and also the Minister of the Interior. I have evidence.  'They don't warn you when they will kill you, they just come for you. The first time they came to shoot me they did not warn or threaten me first. 'I can go and give evidence as well but I am scared of my family and my wife. 'If I go to Albania they will kill me and, in order to not, I will have to kill them and I don't want to commit any crime by defending myself.' The court heard extradition will have a devastating impact on Azizi's wife, but Mr Ball argued they face deportation if their asylum claim fails anyway. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. 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