‘Hitman who claimed he was a beekeeper’ to be extradited to Albania after being accused of ordering man’s murder in blood feud

A professional hitman accused of ordering a murder as part of a blood feud in Albania will be sent back to his native country after living in Britain undetected for two years.  

Lorenc Lala, 48, claimed he was a beekeeper when he was arrested in June last year after Albanian authorities tracked him down to the UK and issued a warrant for his extradition.

He is alleged to have organised a payment of £42,000 for the murder of Albi Bashaliu in revenge for the killing of another man in the village of Gjocaj.

Mr Bashaliu was sitting in a car selling chickens when he was shot dead in 2021. 

Lala is understood to have fled Albania for Britain on the understanding it provided a safer location outside of the reach of the European arrest warrant.

He arrived in the country on a British Airways flight in August 2023 with his wife later applying for a skilled worker visa in the care sector.  

Lala appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today where he consented to his extradition from the UK to Albania.

He was warned that his agreement to extradition was irrevocable but gave his consent, avoiding a full two-day hearing.

Lala stood in the dock wearing a grey tracksuit and spoke through an Albanian interpreter.

District Judge Sam Goozee told him: ‘You have now consented for extradition to Albania.

‘I will now send the case to the Secretary of State [Home Secretary] for her to order your extradition. You have no right of appeal against this.

‘Once the Secretary of State has made her decision arrangements will be made for you to be removed to Albania. In the time being you’ll be remanded in custody.’

Lala’s wife attended a hearing last July but she was not in court today.

Harry Perkin, for the Albanian government, previously said: ‘The defendant faces 25 years if he is extradited and convicted.

‘In December 2021, he was first wanted by Albania. He was suspected of conspiring to murder with other co-conspirators.

‘His role was to provide the means of transportation for the criminal group, as well as weapons. His role was significant.

‘The murder was committed as part of an organised crime group. This is in the context of a blood feud in Albania.

‘There is a risk of the defendant fleeing the country. Mr Lala did not provide officers with a passport or ID card.’

Matei Clej, defending, previously said: ‘There are, at this stage, inadequate particulars to assist the court in understanding what this man is accused of having done.

‘This is a heavily media tied case. The gentlemen is said to be a linked to a number of murders.

‘He is portrayed in the Albanian media as a professional hitman.

‘If he is tied up in these murders, there is a very substantial incentive to get him out of that predicament.

‘My submission is that the defendant has a very tenuous link to the murder he is accused of, and it is a tenuous case.

‘The defendant is unconvicted in Albania. He has a clean record.

‘He has spent various short periods in Greece and Italy. He has a got a clean record in those countries just as much as he has in the UK, which he came to in August 2023.

‘The precise manner in which he came to this country is that his partner who sits at the back of court, applied for a skilled worker visa, to work in the care domain.

‘They travelled together by British Airways. Albanian border force provided that information on August 3, 2023.

‘His wife started the process of applying for skilled worker visa in May 2025.

‘Their account is that they came to this country to seek economic betterment. She enjoys skilled work status, and the defendant is here as her dependent.

‘The defendant has three children including a small baby. He worked as a delivery driver.

‘He previously worked as beekeeper in the agricultural sector in Albania, using cow feed using rented land. He was also a manager of hotels there.’