An Albanian convicted of three murders, who managed to secure asylum and then British citizenship using a false identity, has been arrested in the United States after nearly 30 years on the run.
This is about 50-year-old Sokol Hoxha, who, according to American authorities and British media, had fled Europe after killing his 19-year-old wife in Belgium and two brothers in Patos during 1997.
According to the investigation, Hoxha entered Britain under a false identity, claiming to be a Kosovar refugee. In this way, he managed to obtain asylum and later British citizenship.
After a six-year investigation that involved authorities on two continents, he was arrested in Kettering, Ohio.
US authorities said Hoxha had used an alias for years to hide his real identity and had entered the US in 2012, where he later secured legal residency status.
According to a statement from the Marshals Service, the case shows that international cooperation between law enforcement agencies can lead to the arrest of fugitives even after decades.
British media reports that Hoxha was the subject of two Interpol notices for the three murders.
He was sentenced in absentia to 25 years in prison for the double murder in Patos, and is suspected of having killed his wife after she refused to prostitute herself.
