Tourist faces 15 years in Albanian jail after 'bag swap scam' as warning issued

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Kristian and Adriana Gjoni were travelling to Albania from Toronto to tell their family they were expecting their first child but found themselves in prison after landing

A Canadian businessman faces up to 15 years in jail after being caught up in an alleged bag swap while travelling to Albania.

Kristian and Adriana Gjoni were travelling to the southern European country from Toronto to tell their family they were expecting their first child. But, following the Air Transat direct flight to Tirana, the Albanian capital, the couple found themselves in solitary confinement and Adriana tragically miscarried due to stress.

The horror came after an Albanian customs officer asked the couple why one of their four bags was missing a tag. The businessman told Canadian news outlet CTV News: "I told him, I'm not an employee of Pearson [Airport in Toronto] or Air Transat. How would I know?"

After two-and-a-half hours in detention, Kristian was taken to a baggage carousel and ordered to pick up one remaining bag on the belt. Despite telling the officer the bag wasn't his, the official opened the bag, which revealed 23.15kg of cannabis.

The IT businessman was then photographed next to the drug-filled suitcase. He said: "Think of the red carpet in Hollywood, where you have hundreds of people taking pictures all around and a single suitcase being opened."

The ordeal took place in the summer amid a growing trend in Canada where unsuspecting passengers have their suitcases swapped by corrupt airport workers who want to smuggle drugs into an airport. The workers take the tags off the passengers' luggage and instead attach it to a suitcase full of drugs.

A mule then picks it up at the destination if the bag makes it through or, if not, the innocent passenger is left to deal with the consequences. This prompted the Canadian government to issue a warning about the trend, advising passengers to take pictures of their suitcases.

The warning reads: "Criminal networks exploit luggage tags at the airport to move drugs. Your authentic baggage tag can be removed and placed onto a completely different bag containing drugs, or your suitcase might be switched before you…

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