Albanian migrants who wanted to avoid deportation were forced to pull their own teeth in order to be transferred to a hospital where they could more easily escape.
Two men held at the Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre near Heathrow who arrived in the UK illegally were given the advice via a TikTok conversation with someone who claimed to have escaped from the unit in 2018.
The migrants are to be returned to Albania in line with the UK’s repatriation agreement, which allows Albanian nationals living illegally in the UK to be repatriated.
They also received advice on how to smuggle pliers into the detention center and which jobs would offer inmates the best chance of escape.
However, there is no evidence that the proposed methods would work. It appears that the men have previously succeeded in illegally smuggling a mobile phone into the facility.
Albanian migrants waiting in line to be deported were advised to pull their own teeth in order to be transferred to a hospital where they could more easily escape.
Two men were seen on TikTok Live, from a cell at the Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre (above) near Heathrow, speaking to another Albanian who claimed to have escaped from the centre in 2018.
They were also given advice on how to smuggle pliers into the detention center and which jobs would offer inmates the best chance of escape.
In a live TikTok exchange seen by The TelegraphFour Albanians, known to be convicted criminals, spoke in detail about the layout of Colnbrook and the security measures.
A man with an account called ‘The Sting’ speaks to the camera and advises his compatriots to pull teeth in order to be taken to hospital. He adds that he escaped in 2018. However, there are no public records of an Albanian escaping from the centre that year.
He said this method would allow the men to “disappear” past the surveillance cameras.
However, it appeared that the two parties disagreed on the level of security at Colnbrook, suggesting that the building had been made more secure over the past six years.
Colnbrook is one of seven Home Office deportation centres, where illegal migrants and foreign criminals are held before being deported.
In the year to March 2024, the first full year since the UK signed an agreement with Albania to return illegal migrants to each other, around 3,000 Albanians were returned under the fast-track returns agreement.
‘The Sting’ told the men queuing to be deported: ‘As young boys you paid a lot of money to get into the UK and it is not right at all to be sent to Albania.’
He also suggested volunteering in the kitchen or taking out the trash, which were better options for an escaped prisoner, but he also said they had to do the job well for a few days to “gain the trust” of the security guards.
Their conversation, via TikTok’s Live feature that allows people to chat with other users in front of their viewers, ended with one of the men suggesting they continue the conversation in private to “properly” go over the plans.
TikTok’s community guidelines prohibit any form of promotion of crime. The social media site told The Telegraph it trusted “the appropriate authorities” to flag accounts that might be used by people in prison or detention centres.
It added: ‘We are investigating the situation and will take appropriate action if we have sufficient information indicating violations of local law.’
A spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior confirmed that there had been no recent prisoner escapes, adding that staff were “thoroughly trained and strict protocols were in place” to prevent such incidents.