Illegal immigrant hired by criminal gang for English skills in cannabis farm plot jailed

An illegal immigrant hired by a criminal gang for his English language skills has been jailed for five years.

Afrim Krasniqi was a “middleman” for the Albanian mob who built a £900,000 Scotland-wide cannabis cultivation empire.

The 29-year-old was recruited to help fool landlords into believing he was an Italian citizen house-hunting for somewhere for his family to stay.

The gang ended up using properties in Renfrewshire, Edinburgh, Midlothian and Aberdeen to convert them into cannabis farms.

Krasniqi was later snared, having been traced at an address in the capital.

Detectives calculated that cannabis with a potential value of £876,810 had been produced.

Krasniqi was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow on Tuesday.

He had earlier pled guilty on the eve of a 15-day trial in Edinburgh of being concerned in the supply of the class B drug between March 2021 and September 2023.

Lord Arthurson told Krasniqi – described as an “illegal entrant” to the UK having left Albania in 2016 – that he had been part of a “large-scale and carefully planned criminal enterprise”.

The judge cut the jail term from six years due to the guilty plea.

The court earlier heard how residents in Aberdeen had alerted police about concerns regarding a number of properties in the city.

Officers went on to discover cannabis farms inside them. It was also found that electricity meters had been tampered with.

Prosecutor David McLean KC said Krasniqi had “involvement ” with the properties as he had used fake identity documents to rent them.

He was further linked to the other cannabis cultivations, which were also located in St Andrews and Angus.

Iain McSporran KC, defending, told the court: “His role was essentially someone who had a better grasp of English than certain other Albanian gentlemen, who were the prime movers.

“He had no role beyond that, no role in the cultivation of the drugs, but he was aware that he was facilitating a criminal enterprise.

“He was in financial dire straits and took the completely wrong decision to get involved.

“He played a part in that and must now pay the price.”