Dramatic footage shows the moment a gun smuggler was arrested by armed police after 72 firearm components were found hidden in a 1970s’ Datsun shipped from Pakistan to the UK.
Yasir Khan, 40, was sentenced to eight years in prison at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday after he admitted smuggling firearms.
Gun parts, including top slides and barrels for pistols, were found “expertly hidden” inside the fuel tank, underneath the windscreen, and behind the engine block of a car.
They were discovered by Border Force officers on July 7 2024 at London Gateway port in Essex, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
Footage released by the agency after Khan’s sentence hearing shows the moment the smuggler, of Lea Road in Sparkhill, Birmingham, was arrested by armed officers in the city’s Jewellery Quarter.
An investigation by NCA officers uncovered voice notes on his phone which showed Khan had been in touch with an armourer in Pakistan.
The armourer had invited Khan to view “the factory” during the summer of 2023, the NCA said.
Other voice notes and videos retrieved from his phone showed Khan, who claimed to be a car dealer, struggling to test-fire the weapons after they had been constructed because of ammunition jamming.
The gun parts found in July 2024 included 36 top slides and 36 barrels for 9mm Glock self-loading pistols, all hidden in different areas of a 1976 Datsun Sunny.
Khan is suspected of having smuggled gun parts in November 2023 using a similar subterfuge, the NCA said.
During the course of 2023, Khan also purchased several deactivated firearms which he is believed to have converted into functioning weapons, according to the agency.
NCA senior investigating officer David Phillips said: “The NCA and Border Force have prevented this huge array of component parts from entering the criminal marketplace and being used to produce lethal firearms for organised crime groups.
“Working with our law enforcement partners at home and abroad, preventing illegal firearms from reaching the streets of the UK, is a key priority for the NCA.”
