Gun factory exposed inside warehouse for sports car parts
A GUN factory has been discovered on an industrial estate in East Sussex after police raided a warehouse following reports of gunshots.
A search of the unit uncovered evidence of a “sophisticated” gun manufacturing business and enough components and templates to make more than 30 handguns.
It was the first time that the National Crime Agency (NCA) has uncovered a weapons factory where guns are made from scratch.
Photographs released by the NCA showed a “range of machinery” allegedly used to manufacture handguns and bullets. It could not rule out the possibility that guns had already gone into circulation among gangs and that some might have been passed on to terrorists. Three men leaving the building at Diplocks Way in Hailsham, East Sus- sex, during the raid on Saturday night were arrested and police had to use a stun gun on one of them, an NCA spokesman said.
Mark Kinman, one of the men subsequently charged, is listed at Companies House as sole director of MKF Motorsport Ltd, a specialist business making sports car parts. Mr Kinman, 63, from Hailsham, who has been charged with possession of a firearm, was described in one classic car magazine as a mechanical “guru” with almost 50 years experience and who had learnt his trade in the Royal Navy.
At the weekend, two guns were found as well as ammunition, but further searches uncovered the apparent magnitude of the factory operation. Rob Hickinbottom, head of the national firearms threat centre at the NCA, said yesterday: “We believe we have disrupted a group involved in the criminal production of firearms and as a result we have prevented a potentially large quantity of weapons from getting into the hands of criminals and being used in violence on our streets.”
The unit remained sealed off yesterday. The NCA declined to say how it was made aware of the business being conducted in the warehouse, but added: “Officers heard loud bangs consistent with gunshots emanating from inside an industrial unit on the estate. The unit was an engineering workshop, with signage outside showing it to be a gearbox repair business.”
The NCA believe the factory was producing ammunition as well as weapons. Among the machines being examined
‘We believe we have disrupted a group involved in the criminal production of firearms’
‘Officers heard bangs consistent with gunshots emanating from inside an industrial unit’
were a lathe and milling machine. Phil Davies, a retired metalworks teacher, said the machinery was readily available in the country. “You’ve got all you need to create the basic shape and starting point of a gun,” he said.
The NCA believe the seized weapons were made at the unit and that the bangs heard were likely to have been the discharging of those weapons.
Also charged with firearms possession were Greg Akehurst, 29, of no fixed address, and Kyle Wood, 30, of Littlehampton. They were all remanded in custody to appear at Kingston Crown Court on Sept 17.