Albanian gang jailed after 'gloating' about £1m burglary spree

Members of an Albanian crime gang have been jailed after stealing belongings worth more than £1m in dozens of burglaries.

Police said they "gloated" about their crimes and "shared images of ill-gotten gains" such as watches and designer handbags.

CCTV showed them hauling a safe over a garden fence during one raid.

Derbyshire police linked the gang to at least 59 burglaries - in Derbyshire, Cheshire, Cleveland, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and West Mercia.

The value of items stolen is estimated at more than £1m. Some of it has been recovered, but the majority is believed to have been sold on.

Endrit Nikolli, 27, Kristian Gropcaj, 30, George Pepa, 31, Krisjian Dedndreaj, 28, and Sidorjan Lleshi, 26, all pleaded guilty.

Appearing at Chester Crown Court, Gropcaj was jailed for 10 years, Pepa and Dedndreaj to nine years, while Lleshi got 10 years and nine months.

Nikolli will be sentenced at a later date.

Jade Tubb, a 33-year-old British woman, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess criminal property and received a 12-month suspended sentence.

The group would typically gain access to properties using a ladder and enter through first-floor windows or balconies.

Once inside, they stole jewellery, designer handbags, watches and cash.

"The realisation that strangers had broken into our house while we were inside - just a floor away, was something I will never forget," said one victim from Macclesfield.

"We didn't know if they were armed, how many people there were, or whether they would come downstairs, meaning we were forced to barricade ourselves in the lounge."

Footmarks, number plates and DNA

Derbyshire police launched an investigation in October 2024 after a series of burglaries across east Cheshire.

Working with police in Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire, detectives from Macclesfield linked the incidents to several others through footwear marks.

Officers then used automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) to identify vehicles present at all incidents.

They found that a red Ford Focus, insured by Gropcaj, had been present at many of the sites.

The force also found through phone data that Gropcaj had been in regular contact with Nikolli, Dedndreaj, and Lleshaj.

Further enquiries revealed the four men had been meeting on a regular basis at a coffee shop in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham.

Traces of DNA from Nikolli had also been found at the scene of a burglary in Staffordshire.

On 2 July, police raided properties in Walsall, Sutton Coldfield and Birmingham and arrested Nikolli, Lleshaj, Gropcaj and Tubb.

Dedndreaj was later detained in Surrey.

Officers recovered 13 designer handbags, 14 watches worth almost £17,000, mobile phones containing Google Maps searches correlating to the burglaries, and information showing Lleshi was also part of the gang.

He was arrested at his home in Sheffield on 3 September.

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Detective Sergeant Laura Fox, of Macclesfield CID, said the burglaries "were carefully orchestrated, with the gang researching their targets before committing their crimes, even expanding their crime spree across multiple forces in an effort to go undetected".

"Throughout our investigation, it has been clear that the gang had absolutely no regard for the impact that their offences would have on the victims," she added.

"Instead, they regularly gloated about their crimes and shared images of ill-gotten gains."

(c) Sky News 2026: Albanian gang jailed after 'gloating' about £1m burglary spree