Lithuanian pair jailed for sneaking ten guns into UK

TWO Lithuanian gangsters were jailed yesterday for trying to smuggle a cache of guns into Britain by hiding them in a secret hold in their car.

Aivaras Vysniauskas, 33, and Gytis Vysniauskas, 46, were sentenced to a total of 25 years over the haul of Russian weapons in their Peugeot.

The men, who are not related, were stopped by Border Force officials at Dover in March 2016.

A search revealed a purposebuilt space under the car containing ten Baikal handguns, ten silencers and more than 100 rounds of 9mm ammunition.

Investigators suspect the weapons, which had their serial numbers filed off to prevent identification, would have been sold on to organised crime gangs and drug barons.

Debbie Cook, of the National Crime Agency, said: ‘These lethal weapons were destined for the criminal marketplace where they would have had the potential to do untold damage.’

Aivaras, who claimed he built the compartment, admitted in April last year to importing firearms and was sentenced to ten years at Canterbury Crown Court in Kent. Gytis denied all knowledge of the weapons but was jailed for 15 years after his DNA was found on them.

‘Potential to do untold damage’