A Turkish drug baron who was jailed for 16 years for a major plot to supply heroin across the UK has been allowed to remain in the UK on human rights grounds.
The 70-year-old man, who is believed to be one of Britain’s biggest drug dealers, won his bid after claiming that returning to his home country would violate his ‘right to a family life’.
The immigration tribunal heard the man, who had been granted refugee status in the 90s after numerous failed attempts of claiming asylum, also had an affair with a woman in Turkey and later married her to ‘preserve her honour’.
The crime boss also alleged he could not return to Turkey as he would be persecuted because he was an Alevi Kurd, however the tribunal heard he visited the Mediterranean country eight times since first arriving on British shores.
The drug dealers bid to stay in the UK was supported by the UN Refugee Agency, even though the Home Office warned that him being in the UK was ‘not conducive’ to the good of the British public due to his criminal past.
The tribunal was also told how he was believed to be the crime boss of the Adu gang, which is understood to have controlled 90 per cent of the UK heroin trade at the time of his arrest.
The elderly man has denied claims that he was the leader of the organised crime gang.
The criminal first arrived in the country claiming asylum in 1988 but was sent back to his home country only four days later.
A Turkish drug baron who was jailed for 16 years for a major plot to supply heroin across the UK has been allowed to remain in the UK on human rights grounds (stock image)
The 70-year-old returned to the UK in 1991 in another bid of claiming asylum in Britain, which was refused in 1993, but he was handed exceptional leave to remain and a refugee status only five years later.
It later emerged in 2004 that he planned to supply heroin throughout the UK, landing him a 16-year jail sentence. He also received two violent assault charges but was later cleared of both.
His marriage to a woman in Turkey was also revealed to his wife during the criminal trial but she forgave him and they continued to live together after he was freed from prison, the tribunal heard.
The Home Office also told the tribunal that the second marriage was not a ‘secret’ and that he had also requested a passport from his home country.
The tribunal was told that family would also be torn apart if the ‘reformed character’ was sent back to his homeland as his wife would be unable to go to his home country because of her duties to her two daughters and grandchildren who live on British soil.
Immigration judges supported the man’s claim to remain whilst also rejecting the Home Office’s appeal against him staying in the UK.
They concluded it would violate Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) – infringing on his right to a family life, if he was sent to Turkey, whilst also determining he was at risk of persecution due to his Kurdish ethnicity.
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, told the Telegraph: ‘This decision is a sick joke. Our human rights laws have been turned against the British public. How can anyone defend this?’
Chris Philip, the shadow home secretary, said the decision by immigration judges ‘defied common sense’
Robert Jenrick (pictured), the shadow secretary dubbed the decision a ‘sick joke’ adding: ‘Our human rights laws have been turned against the British public’
Chris Philip, the shadow home secretary, added: ‘This decision defies common sense.
‘The man has repeatedly returned to Turkey –even getting a Turkish passport – so is clearly unconcerned about his safety there.
‘Judgements like this raise fundamental questions about the way that the ECHR is being applied.
‘Human rights shouldn’t be about protecting dangerous criminals. A fundamentally different approach is needed to ensure human rights legislation is not abused by criminals and illegal immigrants.
‘That is not what the framers of the ECHR originally intended but judges have now stretched it far beyond its original purpose.’
The upper tribunal dismissed the Home Office’s appeal against the 70-year-old.
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