LONDON: A 40-year-old British-Pakistani man, Yasir Khan, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for attempting to smuggle 72 firearm components into the UK.

A National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation uncovered that Khan had concealed 36 top slides and 36 barrels of 9mm Glock self-loading pistols inside a 1976 Datsun Sunny shipped from Pakistan. He later pleaded guilty to the charges.

The haul was expertly hidden in the vehicle. The illegal parts were secreted underneath the windscreen, behind the engine block and in the fuel tank, and were discovered by NCA colleagues from Border Force during a search on July 7, 2024, at London Gateway Port.

NCA officers began an investigation and Khan, who claimed he was a car dealer, was arrested by officers from the agency’s Armed Operations Unit on 12 July in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter.

Khan, of Lea Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham, appeared at the city’s crown court and was sentenced after he admitted smuggling firearms.

NCA officers discovered voice notes on his phone showing evidence of contact with a supplier in Pakistan who had access to the manufacture of component parts for firearms.

The armourer had invited Khan to view “the factory” during the summer of 2023.

Khan is suspected of a similar importation in November 2023. Mobile phone voice notes and videos showed him struggling with ammunition jamming in the firearms once they had been constructed and test-fired.

Evidence also showed that during 2023, Khan purchased several deactivated firearms which it is believed he was able to convert into viable lethal firearms once again.

NCA Senior Investigating Officer David Phillips said: “Working with our law enforcement partners at home and abroad, preventing illegal firearms from reaching the streets of the UK is a key priority for the NCA.”

“The NCA and Border Force have prevented this huge array of component parts from entering the criminal marketplace and being used to produce lethal firearms for organised crime groups.”