Dritan Nikolli produced cannabis in Kilbirnie 'out of fear'

Albanian national Dritan Nikolli was sentenced at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court after pleading guilty to producing and being concerned in the supply of the class B drug.

The 23-year-old was arrested after police raided a block of "tenement style flats" in the town's Avils Hill in April 2023.

A total of 273 mature cannabis plants were found in the block's top floor flats and loft space.

Cultivation equipment was also recovered from another flat within the fifth block on the street  - where cops found Nikolli sitting on a chair in the bathroom.

Nikolli, who was described in court papers as a prisoner at HMP Kilmarnock, was brought back to court for sentencing after social workers were asked to prepare a background report following his guilty plea in December.

His solicitor told the court her client was “effectively brought over illegally to the UK” and had paid £15,000 to get here in the hope that this would "bring him a better life than the one he was living in Albania".

She continued: "When here, he met a male who could give him work. He gave him the keys to the locus. Only when he arrived to that flat did he realise the job was to look after cannabis plants.

"Although he accepts he was not threatened or coerced to become involved in carrying out this work, he was fearful of the man responsible.

"He tells me that although that man was very friendly with him when he offered him the job, that man then visited the locus on a regular basis and was not as friendly."

The lawyer said the man had told Nikolli that "he knew who his family were", which Nikolli confirmed when he contacted them himself.

Kilmarnock Sheriff Court, where Dritan Nikolli was sentenced

"He was fearful that if he did not carry out the task at hand he or his family would be hurt," his solicitor added.

She continued: "I have dealt with Mr Nikolli since the start of this case. It has taken him a number of months before he told me the truth of the matter, because he was so fearful of what may happen to him if he disclosed that he was fearful of these people.

"He had effectively come to the UK with the help of a criminal organisation, and is having to pay back the debt he got to get here in the first place."

She added: "He was not locked in the locus. He accepts that he could have left and reported the matter to the police, but that is sometimes more difficult for Albanian nationals, because the police system in Albania is not as trustworthy as ours.

"He realises he will probably be detained and deported at end of his sentence. He is remorseful and scared and willing to take consequences coming to him."

Sheriff Murdo Mactaggart told Nikolli: “According to the social work report, you saw this as an easy way to make some money.

“The only appropriate sentence is one of custody. You have got involved in a drug cultivation and supply operation of a very significant size."

Nikolli was jailed for 27 months, backdated to April 27 last year - the date he was first remanded in custody, the day after the police raid.

Our sister title, the Ayr Advertiser, reported last month on how another Albanian national, Elion Kullag, had been caught at a £167,000 cannabis farm on Ayr's High Street.

Kullag - who, Ayr Sheriff Court heard, also came to the UK to work, and also discovered the true nature of his employment only after arriving at the property - was found locked in the building when police raided the property on January 30, 2023.