Two men were sentenced to 30 years in prison for creating submachine guns using a 3D printer.
In the first instance of its kind in the UK, Sibusiso Moyo, 41, and Christopher Gill, 35, were found guilty of conspiring to make and provide improvised weapons to criminal groups.
When police in Bradford discovered the lethal plastic weapons concealed in a BMW being driven by their criminal associate Majeed Rehman, 46, they were shocked.
Police stopped the vehicle on May 17 of last year after watching a guy, later identified as Gill, enter the vehicle while carrying a grocery bag for the rest of his life.Its contents, which included a handmade automatic submachine gun, a magazine, and bullets, were found inside the car’s back footwell.
Two nearly finished FGC9s were later discovered in a holdall concealed in Gill’s loft during a home invasion.
Police discovered two 3D printers and the components to assemble the lethal weapons at Moyo’s Hull house when they apprehended him.On the site, there were also various stages of gun manufacturing, and a weapon from a BMW had Moyo’s DNA on it.
Gill, a resident of Bradford, was sentenced to 13 years in prison after being found guilty of making firearms without a license at Sheffield Crown Court.
For the same offense as well as a separate charge of identity fraud, Moyo received an 18-year sentence.
Following the sentencing, Det Chf Inspector Andrew Howard stated: “Manufacturing functional 3D-printed firearms is a real threat, and these firearms were built for one specific purpose—to be supplied to other organized criminals who would use them to cause harm.”
We’re committed to protecting the public’s safety by going after those who decided to produce these deadly weapons, he continued.
Those who violate the law will be pursued, will suffer the full force of the law, and should anticipate serving time in prison.
Rehman, a resident of Bradford, was held responsible for ammunition possession and conspiracy to transfer a prohibited weapon. At a later time, he will be sentenced.
