Gang’s gun stash in the back garden
TERRIFYING ARSENAL DUG UP AFTER POLICE CRACK CODE
THE hacking of a supposedly secure criminal Encrochat network helped police recover a terrifying arsenal of weapons including an AK47 and an Uzi, as well as a gun and ammunition – buried in a back garden.
Seven men face lengthy jail terms after sinister messages were revealed from the encrypted devices.
A plot to ‘hit back’ after a shooting in Salford was laid bare, as well as deals to sell an AK47 and an Uzi sub-machine gun, and drugs conspiracies.
Two packages were dug up in a garden in Warrington, with a loaded Smith & Wesson pistol, a Grand Power semiautomatic pistol and ammunition seized.
The National Crime Agency said officers also found two AK47 rifles, an Uzi and Skorpion sub-machine guns and 300 rounds of ammunition.
Those caught out by the Encrochat hack will be sentenced in the New Year.
A Manchester Crown Court trial ended as some men changed their pleas.
“Get a location for this kid and we will end it,” was one of the chilling messages police found when law enforcement were able to hack into the system.
Sent by Umair Zaheer to Brandon Moore, 24, and Jordan Waring, 23, it revealed the latter two wanted revenge against a man after they were shot in Kersal, Salford in April.
Zaheer, 34, from
Eccles, was helping. The plot ultimately came to nothing. Another Encrochat message unmasked Zaheer as a gun runner.
Using the Encrochat handle ‘Assassin’s creed,’ Zaheer sent a list of weapons for sale to another user, including a Uzi, a Skorpion and AK47.
Robert Brazendale worked with Zaheer as a courier and driver. A deal to buy a Skorpion, Uzi and revolver had been agreed. The deal was done, with the guns and ammunition later found by police in Brent, London.
A deal involving another AK47 was also uncovered. Brazendale was extradited after his arrest in Estepona on the Costa del Sol in October 2020.
Zaheer, Moore and Waring, of no fixed address, and Louis Coleman, 23, went on trial denying conspiracy to murder. The first three pleaded guilty to an alternative count of conspiring to possess firearms or ammunition with intent to endanger life.
Coleman, of Pendlecroft Avenue, Salford, was acquitted of both counts. He admitted drug supply charges along with Zaheer, who admitted a separate charge of conspiracy to possess firearms or ammunition with intent to endanger life, as did Bilal Khan, 33, of Mersey Road, Didsbury, and Hitesh Patel, 27, of Garden Lane, Chester.
Brazendale, of Selworthy Drive, Warrington, admitted conspiring to transfer prohibited weapons.