Albanian migrants cut off ‘British Rolex’ ankle tags

TikTok videos show how to cut off devices using kitchen scissors, saying it enables people to abscond despite threat of jail

Albanian criminals and migrants have been demonstrating how to remove “British Rolex” ankle tags, as Suella Braverman signalled a potential expansion of the use of the electronic devices.

Albanians have posted TikTok videos showing how to cut off the tags, which they have described as “British Rolexes”, using kitchen scissors. They boast that it enables them to abscond despite the threat of jail or other sanctions for breaching their immigration bail.

In one video, the man cutting off his tag is asked: “Where are the police?” He replies: “In the police station, lol. I took it off myself.” Another posted a comment asking: “If I cut mine off and changed my address, would that work or am I still in trouble?” A reply read: “When you cut it off, don’t go back home lol.”

A third claimed to have scammed an old-style tag, which simply records whether someone is at home, unlike a GPS tag, which tracks someone 24/7 at all locations. “I removed the tag and left it at home so I am not worried at all,” the man said.

A fourth warned that removing the tag could see an automatic 28-day return to prison. However, a reply said: “Doing 28 days in prison is nothing. It is as easy as eating bread and cheese.”

Hundreds of Albanians have been tagged as part of their immigration bail after arriving illegally in the UK on small boats across the Channel, or as a precursor to their deportation after being released from prison.

Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, confirmed on Monday that the Government was considering tagging migrants as one of a “range of options” to enable ministers to enact plans to detain anyone who arrives in the UK illegally so they could be deported to a safe third country.

As revealed by The Telegraph, ministers have been forced to consider further measures because of a shortage of immigration detention places, of which there are currently only 2,500, and the continued surge in migrants crossing the Channel, with 19,000 having arrived so far this year.

The move is required because Rishi Sunak’s new small boats laws give ministers powers to detain anyone who arrives illegally in the UK and swiftly deport them to a third country such as Rwanda or their home nation.

Mrs Braverman said: “We need to exercise a level of control of people if we’re to remove them from the United Kingdom. We are considering a range of options. We have a couple of thousand detention places in our existing removal capacity.

“We will be working intensively to increase that but it’s clear we’re exploring a range of options, all options, to ensure that we have that level of control over people so that they can flow through our systems swiftly to enable us to thereafter remove them from the United Kingdom.”

Ministers are, however, concerned about the risk of migrants removing their tags if they face the risk of being deported. They are planning to toughen requirements for them to report via text or in person to immigration officers multiple times a day, as well as using the devices’ GPS technology to track their position 24/7.

Some 4,000 foreign criminals and migrants are tagged. Albanians represented 28 per cent of overseas offenders on tags in 2022, according to data obtained by the Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration.

Last year, they accounted for more than a quarter of the 45,755 people who crossed the Channel. The numbers have fallen to a fraction of that this year after the Government introduced a returns agreement with Albania and imposed new curbs on modern slavery claims, including by Albanians.

Albanian sources said there was more of an incentive for Albanians to abscond because of the new deportation agreement and a crackdown on modern slavery claims. Nearly two-thirds of such claims by Albanians have been rejected, compared with 11 per cent last year.

Some 12,800 Albanians who entered the UK illegally have broken their bail conditions since the beginning of last year, according to Home Office data.

TikTok has said it has a “zero tolerance” approach to content that promotes illegal migration, dedicates “significant resources” to combat it and will promptly remove any videos that breach its rules.