The family of a man feared killed by an Albanian spy chief last night pleaded with him: “Tell us where our dad’s body is"
By Lee Sorrell
We told last week how suspected torturer Ilir Kumbaro had become one of the UK’s most wanted criminals after jumping bail.
He is being sought in Albania over the disappearance of businessman Remzi Hoxha who vanished in 1995.
Speaking from his home in the country’s capital Tirana, Hoxha’s son Ardian, begged for information and blasted UK authorities for allowing him to vanish.
Ardian, now 30 but just 14 when his father disappeared, claimed: “It is very important to catch Ilir Kumbaro as he is the key person in the entire process.
“He is the person that physically took my father from his workplace and later tortured him and made my father die from his torture and finally made his body disappear.
“He is the person who last saw my father. He is the person that knows where my father’s remains are. Thus, helping a person like this escape causes further pain to my family and to people that knew my father.
“All my family has asked is to get the remains of my father, to make him a grave and know that he is dead. It is very difficult to live with this feeling every day.”
Mr Hoxha, a father of five, was snatched outside his window frames business in Tirana in October 1995 by plain clothes officers from the notorious SHIK security service.
Prosecutors claim he was then driven an hour north to Vain, near the city of Lezhe, before being taken to a secret building and tortured. He has not been seen since.
Kumbaro, 58, who had been sheltering in London for the past 15 years was arrested at his council flat in Fulham, west London, in 2008 after living here under a false name with his wife and two sons.
The fugitive has been battling against extradition ever since but was freed on bail despite refusing to admit his true identity.
Two weeks ago, he failed to turn up at a hearing at City of Westminster magistrates’ court and has since disappeared.
Five months ago, a judge told Kumbaro his electronic tag could be removed after earlier reducing the number of times he had to report to his local police station to once a week.
Ardian added: “I don’t understand how such a foolish act can be made by the British authorities knowing that he is a very high- level criminal.”/daily star/
