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Gang found guilty of UK's largest known gun-smuggling operation Gang found guilty of UK's largest known gun-smuggling operation
(about 3 hours later)
A gang that smuggled into the UK the largest haul of assault rifles and submachine guns ever detected by police are facing life in prison after being convicted at the Old Bailey. A British crime gang bought the largest haul of automatic weapons ever detected by UK police from the same source in eastern Europe as terrorists behind the Paris attacks, it can be revealed.
The group brought the weapons into Britain via France by hiding them in a motor cruiser which docked in Kent last August. The haul included 22 AK-47-type weapons, nine submachine guns, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, two silencers and 58 magazines. Some of the weaponry was bought from the same Slovakian gun store that was the source of firearms used in the terrorist attacks on the offices of Charlie Hebdo and the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in Paris in January 2015. The 22 Kalashnikov-style assault rifles and nine machine guns were described by police from the National Crime Agency as “mass casualty weapons”. They were intercepted in an operation led by the NCA after being smuggled from eastern Europe to France and across the Channel in a motor-cruiser which docked in Kent last August.
Harry Shilling, 25, Michael Defraine, 30, and their associates were caught after armed police swooped on the Albernina when it docked at Cuxton marina, near Rochester. On Thursday, Harry Shilling, 25 and Michael Defraine, 30, two leading members of the organised crime gang based in Kent, were convicted of smuggling the firearms and conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life after a trial at the Old Bailey in London. Three other members of the group pleaded guilty to their part in the plot. All five face possible life imprisonment when they are sentenced on 13 May.
On Thursday Shilling and Defraine were found guilty of possession of firearms with intent to endanger life and conspiring to import firearms into Britain. The judge told them they face possible life imprisonment.
Jennifer Arthy, 42 and John Smale, 58, were found not guilty. Three other members of the gang have already pleaded guilty to their part in the plot.
Officers from the National Crime Agency, which led the investigation into the smuggling, breached the PGP (pretty good privacy) encryption software installed on multiple BlackBerry phones used by the group to intercept messages as the trafficking took place. The UK is only the third country in the world, after Canada and the Netherlands, to have publicly said its law enforcers have been able to breach the PGP programme for encrypting data.
Related: How police decoded encryption software to thwart arms traffickersRelated: How police decoded encryption software to thwart arms traffickers
The NCA’s head of specialist operations, Rob Lewin, said: “This seizure of automatic weapons was the largest ever made by the NCA – and, we believe, the largest ever on the UK mainland. These are hugely powerful firearms ... Duncan Atkinson, prosecuting, told the central criminal court in London that the firearms smuggled into the UK by the gang were capable of “causing carnage on a terrifying scale”.
“The evidence pointed to [the gang] not being afraid to use guns themselves to expand their influence. They wanted to move up in the criminal world from regional to international gangsters.” Bought as deactivated weapons in Slovakia for as little as £38 each, the firearms were illegally reactivated somewhere in Europe and the gang hoped to make £250,000 by selling them. The detection of what is the biggest haul of military style assault rifles and submachine guns ever on the UK mainland exposed links to the terror attacks in Paris which can only now be reported. The NCA said the stash of firearms was purchased from the same Slovakian gun store as those used in the Charlie Hebdo and kosher supermarket attacks by Islamist extremists in Paris in January last year.
British police fear some of the guns could have got into terrorist hands via the known overlap between criminals and extremists. Tariq Hassane, who was convicted last month of conspiring to kill on the streets of London, was part of a cell which sourced a firearm, silencer and ammunition through a London criminal contact. Sold legally by AFG Security in Slovakia as deactivated acoustic expansion weapons, they were illegally reactivated by hammering out a metal pin which had been placed in the barrel, transforming them into lethal weapons.
Duncan Atkinson, prosecuting, told the central criminal court in London that the firearms smuggled into the UK by Shilling and the gang were capable of causing carnage on a terrifying scale. The shadowy trade out of western Slovakia is the subject of multiple criminal and anti-terror investigations in Europe, including investigations into the Islamist terrorist attacks in Paris last November that killed 130 people.
Prosecutors likened Shilling, who claimed he was a farmer specialising in rare breeds, to the fictional underworld boss Keyser Söze from the film The Usual Suspects. Gangland boss Shilling smuggled the haul of powerful automatic weapons into the UK after making multiple trips last year with his right-hand man, Defraine, to eastern Europe, including Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.
Defraine arranged the transportation, while Shilling’s “loyal lieutenant” Richard Rye, 24, acted as a gobetween with those who would do the legwork needed to bring in the guns. Rob Lewin, head of specialist operations for the NCA, said: “They were very similar weapons to those used in the Charlie Hebdo attacks. It was the same supply route and same methodology of deactivating and reactivating the weapons. It was the same source in the same country.”
The weapons were shipped in from Boulogne, northern France, via the river Medway. But the group were being watched by National Crime Agency officers, who had been monitoring their activity for months. British police and anti-terror experts have long feared the nexus between organised criminals and terrorists could be the source of firearms used for a Paris-style attack in the UK. Lewin said: “We can only speculate that some of these weapons would have been sold to whoever had the means to pay the asking price. I have no doubt that together we have protected the public and saved lives.”
Shilling sent one message following what he thought was the successful purchase and transfer of the weapons, which read: “We now officially gangsters.” To which his associate replied: “Fucking nice one.” Evidence of Islamist terrorists using criminal contacts in the UK to source weapons was revealed last month when Tarik Hassane was convicted of conspiring to kill on the streets of London. His cell sourced a firearm, silencer and ammunition through a London criminal contact.
Armed police moved in to make the arrests on 11 August shortly after the weapons were transferred from the boat to a Renault van. They arrested Payne in the van on a dirt track near the marina. When arrested he was asked what was in the van, and replied: “Guns.” Shilling and his gang brought the weapons into Britain via France by hiding them in a motor-cruiser, the Albernina, which docked in Kent last August. They were arrested on 11 August after unloading the guns into a waiting van at Cuxton Marina in Kent. The haul included more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, two silencers and 58 magazines.
After the arrests the deputy director of the NCA, Graham Gardner, said: “This was an extremely significant seizure, the largest of its kind in the UK. I’ve no doubt that these weapons would have ended up in criminal hands and it goes without saying the risk they would have posed to the public.” The NCA put the gang under surveillance after receiving intelligence they had plans to illegally smuggle firearms into the country. Blackberry phones fitted with PGP (pretty good privacy) encryption software were sent to the Canadian mounties to be decoded, in order to intercept messages between the men.
During the trial armed police were present inside the courtroom for the first time since Kenneth Noye faced trial in 2000 for murder. The gang were brought in and out of court each day in a police convoy with helicopters flying overhead and jurors were kept in isolation throughout the proceedings. In one message sent by Shilling following what he thought was the successful purchase and transfer of the weapons, he wrote to an accomplice: “We now officially gangsters.” To which his associate replied: “Fucking nice one.” But armed police moved in to arrest the gang shortly after the weapons were transferred from the boat to a Renault van.
Lewin said the size of the haul was shocking. “This seizure of automatic weapons was the largest ever ... on the UK mainland. These are hugely powerful firearms ... We seized four times as much firepower in this job as was used in the recent Paris events last Christmas.”
After the Bataclan and Stade de France terror attacks last November in Paris, EU officials rushed to close the loophole which allowed the weapons to be sold legally as acoustic expansion weapons in Europe.
A new directive going through the European parliament aims to standardise deactivation procedures across Europe, introduce a ban on collectors owning deactivated category-A weapons, such as machine guns, and ending civilian use of semi-automatic weapons.