Albanian killer broadcasts live TikTok videos … from his cell
AN ALBANIAN murderer is broadcasting live videos from his UK jail cell on TikTok in which he flirts with women and plays online games with criminals in other prisons.
Eugert Merizaj, jailed for 32 years for his role in the brutal shotgun killing of a drug rival, is receiving virtual ‘gifts’ donated to him via TikTok by admirers, which he can then exchange for money.
Despite a prison ban on mobiles, Merizaj, 32, has repeatedly broadcast live five-minute conversations every day in recent weeks.
In an astonishing security breach, he boasted that his phone was dropped off at his Manchester jail by drone and he hides it in a toilet roll.
Merizaj, whose victim was blasted in the head, bragged last Monday that if his phone is discovered by prison officers he would just ‘buy another one’. He claimed it is the third phone he has used in prison, each costing him £2,000.
In one video, he appears to have blocked his cell door window with paper to stop warders peering in, while in another he showed his 8,000 followers images of security fences outside his cell.
Earlier this month Merizaj, who uses the nickname ‘Babale’, and a fellow inmate, calling himself Cameron, filmed themselves flirting with a woman who said she was 21. ‘She’s cheeky, man,’ Cameron is heard saying. ‘Does she know that we are in jail though?’
Merizaj also uses a feature called Live Match on TikTok to communicate with friends outside jail – and also make small sums.
Live Matches involve TikTok users filming themselves talking to other users for five minutes, in which they often implore online spectators for donations. The winner of a match is the one receiving most ‘gifts’ from viewers, in the form of colourful virtual stickers.
The gifts are converted to points, which ultimately can be redeemed for money. TikTok, however, is believed to take a cut of more than 50 per cent.
On Wednesday night, Merizaj took part in a TikTok Live match with three women, including an Albanian in Spain, accumulating 2,600 points, equivalent to £12.60, according to an online calculator. He won another TikTok Live game on August 16 with 3,319 points, equivalent to £16.
Merizaj, who has been using TikTok undetected from his cell for about a month, has also played matches against a TikTok account which sources claim is used by another Albanian murderer serving a life sentence in Greece. Merizaj
was part of a gang who lured cannabis dealer Hemawand Ali Hussein to a house in Hartlepool, Co Durham, in 2019 before blasting him with a shotgun.
TikTok said it had taken action against the account and that it relies on prison staff and police to identify and notify it of accounts being used in prison. The Prison Service said: ‘We are working with TikTok to remove these videos.’