Albanian criminals are brazenly mocking British justice by mounting increasingly violent burglaries and issuing defiant social media posts from inside jails.

The Daily Telegraph has obtained Instagram images from the private accounts of Fabion Kuci and Azem Dajci, currently in Wormwood Scrubs jail for aggravated burglary during which they were caught with a gun and ammunition.

They are part of a worrying new trend where Albanian gangs have turned to violent raids on homes in the south east to steal cash and jewellery, which is smuggled back to Albania to be fenced on the black market.

Police in London, Kent and Surrey have issued “wanted” alerts for at least five other Albanian criminals behind a string of aggravated burglaries across the south east of England.

The disclosures come just two weeks after Boris Johnson pledged a £100 million crackdown on prison security and tougher sentences in an assault on “soft” justice.

Albanians have overtaken Poles as the biggest foreign criminal group in UK jails, despite a deal in 2013 that allowed them to be sent home to serve their sentences.