English gangsters tried to buy up homes to rent out in one of Scotland's poorest places, according to police.
In a clear sign of just how lucrative Scottish property can be, an organised crime group from south of the border tried to muscle in on the lucrative buy-to-let market in East Ayrshire.
However, police and council officials have taken what they call "appropriate action to disrupt their activities".
East Ayrshire Council is currently reviewing the landlord registrations of three directors of a letting company.
Kilmarnock, in East Ayrshire, has some of the lowest house prices in Scotland but still commands substantial rents, making legitimate buy-to-let profitable.
Police and another council, North Lanarkshire, have succeeded in removing nine individuals with crime links from the landlord register in a major crackdown on gangster landlords. Another three resigned.
The private letting industry is now one of the main focuses on law enforcement as it tries to attack the underbelly of the underworld.
Police Scotland, in a statement, said their East Ayrshire action came after council officials spotted something.
They said: "Staff were made aware of an English-based serious organised crime group which enlisted the help of a Scottish based company to act as a landlord for properties purchased in East
Ayrshire.
"The appropriate action was taken to disrupt their activities, with three Directors reported to the Procurator Fiscal and ongoing enquiry by the
local authority to remove their landlord status."
Council officials declined to comment on a live case.
Speaking generally, Assistant Chief Constable Ruaraidh Nicolson, pictured below, has stressed that sharing intelligence with landlord registration officials was part of a wider trend.
He said: "This is another example of the multi-agency approach Police Scotland and partner agencies adopt in tackling serious organised crime.
"Police Scotland will continue to work with local authorities and other partner agencies to target Organised Crime wherever it impacts on the communities of Scotland."
A spokeswoman for Police Scotland's Lanarkshire division, said: "Targeting serious and organised crime is one of our main priorities and the landlord registration scheme is just one of the several different methods which we use to disrupt those involved and make it difficult for them to operate."
Police Scotland's Organised Crime and Counter-terrorism unit at the Scottish Crime Campus at Gartcosh has been focusing on underworld landlords for most of this year as part of an operation called Thero.
The aim is to disrupt gangs by challenging their registrations - on the basis of civil proof of "balance of probabilities" - or sharing information with local authorities.
The Scottish Association of Landlords has welcomed the crackdown.
Its chief executive, John Blackwood, said: "We support any measure that ensures that criminal landlords are removed from the sector."
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