Man Who Wanted to Bomb Stadium Begs to Stay in UK, Saying Gangsters Will Kill Him If Deported
Albanian man with a violent past is fighting to stay in Britain, claiming he’ll be murdered if sent back home. Maksim Cela isn’t your average immigrant – he’s got a criminal record that reads like something from a gangster movie.
He spent 23 years locked up for some seriously bad stuff – planning to blow up a football stadium packed with fans and killing a police officer.
After getting out of prison, he went on a little European tour before sneaking into the UK with fake papers last year. Now he’s telling British courts that powerful gangs back in Albania want him dead to settle some old scores. He says it’s a classic blood feud situation – the kind where his life wouldn’t be worth much if he stepped foot back in his hometown.
But the Home Office isn’t buying it. They think he’s just spinning a good story because he wants to live with his wife and daughter here in Britain.
They’ve pointed out how his story keeps changing – first he was in a gang, then he wasn’t, first it was criminal, then it was political. The government lawyers basically called him out, saying he’ll say whatever it takes to stay.
Here’s the tricky part – a lower court actually believed his blood feud story at first, saying sending him back would violate his human rights. But higher judges said “hold on, let’s look at this again.” Now it’s all up in the air while they decide if this convicted killer and would-be bomber gets to stay or gets put on a plane home.
It’s one of those cases that shows how complicated immigration decisions can get, especially when you’ve got violent criminals claiming their lives are in danger. On one hand, nobody wants to send someone to their death. On the other, should someone with his record get special treatment to stay in the country he broke into? The courts are stuck deciding where to draw that line.
