Scotland Yard is appealing to the British public to help track down a former senior Albanian intelligence officer suspected of kidnapping and torturing political opponents and who has been hiding in the UK for years. Ilir Kumbaro, now in his 70s, has been wanted by the Metropolitan Police for 14 years after he fled Britain in breach of bail in December 2011, shortly before his extradition hearing was due to begin. He is wanted in Albania for ordering the kidnapping and torture of three people in 1995, suspected of plotting against then-president Sali Berisha.
The Metropolitan Police have renewed their appeal for information through Crimestoppers, while The Telegraph reports that detectives are following up on new leads. According to an Albanian source, Kumbaro was last seen in a supermarket in Cardiff in 2016, along with his wife.
His recapture would bring some justice to the family of Remzi Hoxha, an Albanian-Macedonian businessman, who was kidnapped north of Tirana on October 21, 1995, and tortured in a warehouse along with Zizo Kristopulli and Avdyl Loshaj, on the orders of Kumbaro, then head of the Kosovo Intelligence Service (SHIK).
Remzi Hoxha, a father of five, has never been seen again since that day. His son, Ardian Hoxha, told The Telegraph: “We are very happy that finally the British authorities have re-engaged with the case of Ilir Kumbaro, the person who kidnapped, physically tortured and killed my father.”
Kumbaro fled to Britain in 1996 and sought asylum under the false name Shaq Shatri, convincing authorities that he was a Kosovar fleeing Serbian persecution.
The Home Office granted him indefinite leave to remain and issued him with a British passport. For 13 years he lived under a false identity in a council flat in Fulham, London, receiving thousands of pounds in welfare and unemployment benefits.
The Metropolitan Police began an active search for him in June 2008, following a request from Albanian authorities. His role was revealed when he used his real name to claim other benefits for depression and post-traumatic stress. On 2 September, Scotland Yard's extradition unit, led by Detective Inspector Peter Rance, arrested him at his flat in Fulham. When alerted, Kumbaro said: "I am not Ilir Kumbaro, I am Shaqa Shatri", claiming that the other people in the flat were his cousin and a friend called Ervin Kumbaro.
He was due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 1 December 2011, but escaped before the extradition hearing and is suspected of taking refuge with friends outside London.
Ardian Hoxha added: "We had lost faith in British justice, but it seems that there are still honest individuals who want to establish justice. If the British authorities really want to find Ilir Kumbaro, they can do it very easily, as his children and family live in London."
In 2012, the Serious Crimes Court in Tirana sentenced Kumbaro in absentia to 15 years in prison for the kidnapping and torture of Hoxha.
The case has been further complicated by the deaths of key figures linked to the case. Bashkim Gazidede, the former head of SHIK who ordered the interrogation, died in Turkey in 2008. Budjon Mece, a former SHIK officer who the prosecution says personally tortured Hoxha in Lezha, died in Tirana in 2018. Prosecutor Xhevat Hana, who investigated the case and sought Kumbaro's extradition, died suddenly in a hospital in Italy in 2012. Kumbaro's London-based defense lawyer, John Jones, committed suicide in 2016.
