Adverts posted by Albanian crimelords have started appearing on TikTok aimed at ‘serious boys’, in an attempt to recruit social media users into an army of criminals on UK soil
Albanian drug kingpins are looking to raise an army of budding Brits as delivery drivers – and they’re posting the lucrative job offers on TikTok.
The adverts promise to net workers up to £6,000 per month to drive around cocaine and cannabis across a huge drug empire stretching from Glasgow in Scotland, down to Portsmouth in the south England. This adds up to £72,000 per year, with the tax-paying office worker needing a salary of over £110,000 in order to take home the same amount of cash.
Not only are the drug barons direct with their job description, they brazenly post on TikTok – a social media platform used by kids as young as 13.
In one example, a post saw a snowflake emoji used to represent cocaine plastered on a backdrop of red buses in Regent’s Street London, like a distorted version of the English Dream.
“Driver required [snowflake emoji] to have experience in the West area London. Seven days a week. £200 working day. The car. Fuel. Only serious people!” read the caption. Underneath someone noted that spending “three years in prison for £200 a day is not worth it”.
In the UK, supplying a Class A drug such as cocaine carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, while the same for Class B drug cannabis could see the offender land 14 years in jail.
Another TikTok post read: “Three workers are required per island [cannabis farm] – who is interested in starting a job, write privately.”
UK authorities published a guide in 2022 warning parents about coded language and explained that a “snowflake [emoji] is cocaine”.
Surrey Police wrote: “There’s a secret world of emojis with more concerning meanings. Snowflake is cocaine. Dealers may also use this language and some of these emojis to exploit young people.”
Many ads use the word “puntor”, which is Albanian slang for drug dealers and “pikave” a street term for cocaine.
A third advert even gives a specific location – Portsmouth – and lists the salary as £1,300 a week with one day off. It adds in Albanian: “For serious boys only.” Serious girls apparently need not apply.
Other “job offers” are aimed at people in Bournemouth, London, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Liverpool and Glasgow.
This month, Albanian Pajtim Oruci was jailed after pleading guilty to running a cannabis farm in Widnes in Lancashire. The 32-year-old appeared at Liverpool Crown Court earlier this month.