An Albanian national convicted of drug trafficking has been on the run for more than a year after being wrongly released from prison in the UK. He was convicted of the criminal offence of possession and distribution of Class B narcotics and was involuntarily released by authorities in August 2024.
He is reportedly one of at least three prisoners who were accidentally released and are still at large. The other two are British citizens – one convicted of aggravated robbery and the other of failing to report to police.
The case has come to light as the British Justice Secretary, David Lammy, faces multiple questions in Parliament following revelations that 353 prisoners were wrongly released between April 1, 2024, and October 31, 2025 – including more than 90 people convicted of sexual or violent crimes.
"I have just been informed that the Prisons and Probation Service is investigating another possible case of wrongful release on November 3, and the person may still be at large," Lammy told MPs.
Lammy admitted that the current system, which still relies on handwritten documents and manual calculations of release dates, is "chaotic and flawed", adding that authorities often do not know whether a prisoner has been released by legal decision or in error.
A British government spokesman said these cases are "symptoms of a broken criminal justice system", which is under "huge pressure" due to prison overcrowding.
Lammy publicly apologized to the victims and their families, citing the case of a 14-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by an asylum seeker originally from Ethiopia, Hadush Kebatu, who was also wrongly released and then arrested and deported to his homeland.
To avoid a repeat of these cases, Lammy announced an investment of 10 million euros to digitalize the prisoner release system, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to replace processes with physical documents and to improve control over arrest warrants and convicts.