Jail for smugglers caught importing arms » Communities » 24dash.com

Four men caught trying to bring a "vast armoury" of illegal weapons into the country from Lithuania were today sentenced to up to 18 years in prison.

The two Britons and two Lithuanians smuggled the 30 pistols, 30 silencers and more than 1000 rounds of ammunition hidden in secret compartments built into the floor of a car.

Manchester Crown Court heard it was one of the biggest weapons hauls ever seized in the UK and could have caused "mayhem" if sold on into the criminal underworld.

Lithuanians Marius Renke, 27, and Anton Vaisnoras, 25, both from Klaipeda, hid the guns in the car and had them driven across Europe and into the UK by ferry.

They were met by Dawson Wray, 31, of Tetlow Grove, Eccles, Greater Manchester, and James Parker, 24, of James Green Road, Coventry, who were to sell them on to criminal contacts.

Sentencing the men, Judge Bernard Lever said the men were all "prime movers" in the plot.

"In my judgement you were all prime movers in conspiracy to import 30 handguns, 30 silencers and 1220 rounds of live ammunition in to this country from Lithuania with the intention that others should use them to endanger life.

"I am satisfied these guns had no legitimate or lawful use whatsoever. They were for gangsters and the underworld to use in assassination or drug wars, or extortion or illegal enforcement.

"You, Parker and Wray, would have distributed them in Greater Manchester at a significant profit... not caring what mayhem such weapons and 1220 live rounds could cause in this area.

He sentenced Wray to 11 years and six months, Parker to thirteen years and six months, Vasnoras to 14 years and Renke to 18 years.

The men pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to import guns for others to use for criminal purposes.

The two Lithuanians will be deported when they have finished their sentences, the judge said.

The court heard that the floor of a Volvo V40 was removed by Renke and compartments welded beneath the seats.

Nicholas Clarke, prosecuting, told the court the car had been "completely rebuilt" and 30 9mm pistols, crudely converted to fire live ammunition, stashed inside with the ammunition and silencers.

Each carried a full magazine, and one of the guns was cocked to fire when found, he said.

The car was driven across Europe, through Poland to Cuxhaven in Germany, from where it crossed the North Sea to arrive in Harwich on August 2 last year.

The two Lithuanians flew to the UK to meet the car and travelled on to Coventry to meet Parker and the car. The three then drove to Wray's house in Manchester.

As they were removing the guns at a garage in Trafford the following day, armed police swooped and arrested them.

The Manchester men were to pay £30,000 for guns and ammunition and would have sold them on at "significant profit", the judge said.

He said police had never before seen the techniques used to hide the guns.

"This method of concealment of firearms has not been seen in the UK before," he said.

"The silencers and amount make this one of the largest single seizures of firearms ever imported in to the UK."

The judge said he wanted to send the "clearest possible message" to gangsters and gun runners.

"Decent people in this country are appalled at the shootings that go on by gangsters in our great cities," he said.

"They have etched permanently on their minds those two young ladies who were killed in crossfire by gangsters in Birmingham.

"Only the week before this trial started, a 15-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy were gunned down in the Ardwick area of this city.

"The 15-year-old boy was shot in the chest, back, groin, buttock, and thigh and the 13-year-old boy in the leg.

"Those attacks were nothing to do with you but they illustrate why the courts must not only appropriately and proportionately punish you but, in doing so, must send the clearest possible message to gangsters who use guns and those like you who import them on a significant scale with ammunition, whether from Eastern Europe or elsewhere, that they do so at their peril."

A co-conspirator, Richard Saltmarsh, was found guilty on similar charges and sentenced at an earlier hearing.

Saltmarsh, 27, of Gibbons Close, Coventry, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on July 7.

Copyright Press Association 2006