The Home Office is waiting for suspected organised crime bosses to leave the country before stripping them of their British citizenships.
The tactic is being used in cases where police have been unable to prosecute certain foreign nationals, who have obtained British citizenship, who are suspected of senior involvement in drugs, firearms and people trafficking.
The Home Office works with the National Crime Agency (NCA) which provides an intelligence file the Home Secretary uses to strip the individual of their citizenship if they leave the country temporarily, making it impossible for them to return.
It is unclear how many times the tactic has been used, but at least two Albanian alleged kingpins have unsuccessfully tried to appeal the revocations.
In the latest case, the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was suspected of arranging the smuggling into the UK of hundreds of illegal Albanian immigrants via lorries and small boats across the Channel.
He illegally entered the UK in 1999 falsely claiming to be a Kosovan refugee and was later given British citizenship.
In early 2020 he was arrested by Kent Police on suspicion of money laundering, but no charges followed.
In September that year then Home Secretary Priti Patel took a decision to revoke his citizenship while he was on a trip to Albania.
The man appealed to the Special Immigration Appeals Committee (SIAC), but it rejected his claim after viewing “closed” intelligence from the NCA.
In 2021 Fation Dauti, 38, lost a similar appeal to SIAC after his citizenship was revoked for being “an influential member of a London-based Albanian criminal network involved in cocaine importation, cannabis production, people smuggling and money laundering.”
He was given temporary residency in 2012, because he was married to a Latvian EU national.
However, Mrs Patel revoked it in September 2019, while he was in Albania, based on intelligence from the NCA, which was investigating his network, but had been unable to charge him.
A Home Office spokesman said: “Our utmost priority is the safety and security of the UK. Deprivation of citizenship protects us against the most dangerous people, such as terrorists, extremists, and serious organised criminals.
“Deprivation of citizenship only happens after very careful consideration of the facts and in accordance with international law. Each case is assessed individually on its own merits and always comes with the right of appeal.”
NCA Deputy Director of Intelligence Mark Spoors said: “The NCA is determined to use all the tools at our disposal to protect the public from serious and organised crime – this is one such tool.”
