Klodian Ferizolli, a 32-year-old carwash owner from Glasgow, has been jailed after police linked him to a drug-trafficking operation through a photo of his bathroom floor tiles sent on the encrypted messaging platform EncroChat.
Ferizolli was found guilty of supplying and selling cocaine and cannabis worth thousands of pounds using the app favoured by criminals. His activities were uncovered during a Police Scotland investigation into a Glasgow-based Albanian serious organised crime group that trafficked controlled drugs throughout central Scotland.
EncroChat evidence
Ferizolli used EncroChat almost daily under a specific handle to arrange drug deals with associates. One conversation discussed a property where a cannabis factory could be set up to grow 10kg of the drug. Another included lists and figures totalling £355,350 owed to Ferizolli, who also confirmed he had received £239,680.
He sent a picture of a white powder referred to as “Columbiana” and offered to supply cocaine for £39,000 per kilo. His scheme unraveled when police linked the handle to Ferizolli through an image sent on EncroChat that matched the pattern of the bathroom floor tiles at his home.
Sentence and reaction
Ferizolli appeared at the High Court in Glasgow on Friday July 24, where he was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of being concerned in serious organised crime between March and June 2020.
Prosecutor Sineidin Corrins, of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said: “This was a coordinated effort to traffic significant quantities of illegal and harmful drugs throughout central Scotland. Klodian Ferizolli is now serving a prison sentence thanks to an extensive police operation, working with COPFS, to investigate a network of drug supply.
“I hope that this conviction sends a strong message to others involved in this kind of criminal behaviour and demonstrates the ability of police and prosecutors to investigate, prepare and prosecute serious and organised crime of this nature. We are targeting all people who threaten communities across Scotland, not only drug couriers but also those who direct their movements.
“With each case of this kind we can help reduce the harm these drugs do to those communities.”
Ferizolli, who is also a director of a property management company, will now be subject to confiscation action under Proceeds of Crime legislation to recover monies illegally obtained.
