Gangster caught due to bathroom titles photo struck from landlord register

A Glasgow crime gang member who supplied and sold cocaine and cannabis has been struck from the city’s landlords register.

Klodian Ferizolli, who was jailed for three years on July 24, was caught when police spotted an EncroChat image showing the pattern of his home’s bathroom floor tiles.

Ferizolli, 32, was removed from the city’s register of private landlords this week, meaning he is no longer permitted to lease a property in Tollcross Road and another in Carmyle Avenue.

The city’s licensing and regulatory committee made the decision as it was judged Ferizolli was not a fit and proper person to be on the register.

The car wash owner, who was also a director of a property management company, pleaded guilty at the city’s High Court to a charge of being concerned in serious organised crime between March and June 2020.

He supplied and sold thousands of pounds worth of drugs and used encrypted messaging system EncroChat almost daily, using a specific ‘handle’ to set up deals with contacts.

Police linked the handle back to Ferizolli when he sent an image, which matched the pattern of the bathroom floor tiles at his home.

His crimes were uncovered during a Police Scotland investigation into a Glasgow-based Albanian serious organised crime group, which trafficked controlled drugs throughout central Scotland.

Ferizolli’s messages with others on Encrochat involved multiple arrangements to buy and sell drugs.

One discussion was about a property where a cannabis factory could be set up to grow 10kg of the drug.

Another conversation included lists and figures totalling £355,350 which was owed to Ferizolli, who also confirmed he had received £239,680.

He also sent a picture of a white powder referred to as “Columbiana” and offered to supply cocaine for £39,000 per kilo.

Following the sentencing Prosecutor Sineidin Corrins, of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said: “Klodian Ferizolli is now serving a prison sentence thanks to an extensive police operation, working with COPFS, to investigate a network of drug supply.”