WE REVEAL DEADLY TRADE IN £70 GUNS
GANGS are causing havoc on our streets with converted guns from Eastern Europe.
Unscrupulous dealers are legally buying blank-firing pistols for just £70 and then turning them into deadly weapons.
They then smuggle the firearms into the UK to be sold for big money.
There are fears they could even be getting into the hands of jihadis.
Police say the illicit trade is one of the reasons behind rising gun crime.
We went to Bulgaria to see how easy it is to get hold of the weapons.
In Varna we visited a shop with blackedout windows behind which was an arsenal of blank-firing handguns, rifles and huge knives.
A range of pistols was on display under a glass cabinet including the Turkishmade Zoraki 914 – a favourite among underworld gangs.
We bought a Zoraki 925 machine pistol and a 914 handgun for about £70 each.
A firearms expert and former member of the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad examined the weapons we bought.
Greg Macdonald said the guns could be converted to fire live ammunition “within minutes”.
He warned: “These pistols are a real concern. They are easily converted and have been used in a number of shootings. The profits from selling them on the streets are now being used to buy drugs, fuelling more crime.
“There seems to be little that can be done to stop the smuggling of these guns into the UK.”
It took just five minutes to turn them into potential killers. We then tested the weapons in a forest outside the city.
Mr Macdonald added: “Anyone with simple tools can convert them. There are even videos showing how to convert the guns and ammunition.”
Zoraki guns have become “an emerging trend in the London area” according to the National Crime Agency because they can be easily converted from firing blanks.
Andy Cooke, the chief constable of Merseyside, warned: “We in law enforcement expect the rise in new firearms to continue. We are doing all we can. We are not in a position to stop it any time soon.
“Law enforcement is more joined up now than before, but the scale of the problem is such that despite a number of excellent firearms seizures, I expect the rise in supply to be a continuing issue.”
Modified Zorakis have already been used in Birmingham, Essex, London and Luton. They were used in an attempted murder and a drive-by shooting at a crowded fast-food restaurant. A home in Romford was also sprayed with bullets.
Recorded firearm offences in England and Wales were up by nearly a quarter to 6,375 in 2017, while the number of fatal shootings increased by a fifth.
Many of the converted guns come to the UK via the Netherlands.
Dutch gangs arrange for the weapons to be transported overnight on private boats or hidden in cars and lorries on the way to Dover.
Chief Constable Cooke said that without more money being spent on tackling organised crime they will continue to enter the country.
He commented: “The greatest national security threats are terrorism and serious and organised crime. Nationally, we need to ensure serious and organised crime gets the same funding as the terrorist threat.
“More people die after getting shot by serious and organised criminals than by terrorists.
“If organised criminals have these guns, it’s not a big leap that they will deal them to terrorists.”
Last year, a couple from the Midlands was sentenced to a combined 43 years behind bars after making a fortune from converting blank-firing pistols into deadly weapons.
Carlington Grant and his girlfriend Khiana Lewis spent £7,370 on 43 blankfiring guns and 1,160 blank cartridges. They were shipped from France to Cornwall in shoeboxes.
After being converted, they could have sold for £150,000 on the black market.
Last August, two men were sentenced to life imprisonment and 20 years and three months behind bars.
Matthew Harwozinski and Ricky Garner, both of Bedfordshire, pleaded guilty for their role in importing and modifying dozens of weapons.
Between May 2017 and January 2018 Harwozinski bought dozens of blank-firing handguns and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition from the Czech Republic under a false name.
The weapons were converted to fire modified ammunition by Garner, an engineer at a metal fabrication factory. DAILY STAR SUNDAY SAYS
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