Photo credit: BBC
An Albanian migrant has begun dealing crack cocaine after fleeing his hotel.
The Daily Mail reports that Elvis Zoto got into the UK by crossing the Channel in a small boat posted the picture of his Home Office registration form showing his arrival in Dover in 2022.
He was subsequently approached by a Mail on Sunday reporter posing as a migrant still in France. Zoto told the reporter that his journey to the UK was easy, and revealed he had already fled his asylum hotel by climbing out of a window.
New details about his case have now emerged. A high court has ruled that he should be deported. Campaigners said his case is the latest evidence of the “desperate” need to reform the immigration system.
He flew from Albania to Belgium before travelling by train to France. He then paid a people smuggler to get him on a small boat to Britain. However, he was detained by the Border Force at Dover on June 29, 2022.
Zoto later claimed asylum and was put up in a hotel, the four-star Crowne Plaza in Basingstoke. At his initial interview, he claimed to have left his country after being forced to deal drugs. He later claimed to be a victim of human trafficking.
But he only stayed for two days at the Hotel before fleeing as part of a pre-planned escape.
Since asylum claimants were expected to maintain contact with the Home Office as part of their release and to inform the authorities of any new address, the Home Office drafted a letter to Zoto that his decision to leave the hotel meant his asylum claim was considered “implicitly withdrawn”, but it could not be sent because they did not know where he lived.
Court documents, however, said there is “no evidence” officials tried to contact him by any other means-despite having his Albanian phone number.
It appears Zoto quickly linked up with a drug gang. On November 1, 2023, he was arrested by Essex police after a stop and search. In April of the same year, he was convicted of dealing crack cocaine and sentenced to two years and nine months in prison.
He won the right to challenge the decision on the basis that he still had a pending asylum claim, and a hearing took place in July 2025. His appeal was dismissed on Wednesday. Judge Claire Padley backed the Home Office’s claim that he had forfeited his right to claim asylum by escaping from his hotel.
