Published by Robert L Senior Reporter on Friday 7th March 2025, at 20:00hrs
A Birmingham man has been sentenced to eight years in prison after attempting to smuggle 72 firearm parts into the United Kingdom from Pakistan.
Yasir Khan, 40, pleaded guilty to smuggling firearms after a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation revealed his involvement in the illicit operation.
The haul, consisting of 36 top slides and 36 barrels for 9mm Glock self-loading pistols, was discovered by Border Force officers during a search of a 1976 Datsun Sunny at London Gateway Port on July 7, 2024.
The car had been shipped from Pakistan, and the firearm parts were expertly concealed in various locations, including underneath the windscreen, behind the engine block, and inside the fuel tank.
Following the discovery, the NCA launched an investigation, leading to Khan’s arrest by the agency’s Armed Operations Unit on July 12 in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter.
Khan, who claimed to be a car dealer, was subsequently charged with smuggling firearms.
During the investigation, NCA officers uncovered voice notes on Khan’s mobile phone that provided evidence of his communication with a supplier in Pakistan who had access to firearm component manufacturing. The voice notes revealed that Khan had been invited to visit “the factory” in Pakistan during the summer of 2023.
Further evidence suggested that Khan was suspected of a similar importation in November 2023. Voice notes and videos on his phone showed him struggling with ammunition jamming in constructed firearms during test firing.
Additionally, evidence indicated that Khan had purchased several deactivated firearms in 2023, which investigators believe he intended to convert into lethal weapons.
At Birmingham Crown Court, Khan, of Lea Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham, was sentenced to eight years in prison after admitting to the smuggling charges.
“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,” stated a spokesperson 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.”
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