Gangs ‘can smuggle army rifles into Britain for just £38’

Arsenal: VZ-58 assault rifles were found by police
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AK-47-style assault rifles which were smuggled into Britain by boat can be bought in Europe for as little as £38, the Old Bailey heard.

The Czech-made automatic weapons were easy to buy in former Soviet Bloc countries and the Balkans, National Crime Agency gun expert Neil Wildman said, and can sell for up to £8,000 in Britain to gangsters seeking a status symbol. Mr Wildman told the court that demand was increasing in Britain for assault rifles.

He said the guns, designed for Czech special forces, were widely and cheaply available in eastern Europe. “[They cost] anything from 50 euros (£38) to 400 euros (£310), depending on how close to the source and the condition of the weapons,” he said. “Within the UK [they can be sold for] anything from £700, in very poor, unworking condition, up to £8,000 if the weapon is in good working order — if it comes with magazines and ammunition, that would massively increase its value.”

Mr Wildman was giving evidence at the trial of four people accused of helping to ship 22 VZ-58 rifles — similar to AK-47s — and nine fully automatic Skorpion sub-machine guns into Britain. The weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were allegedly shipped into Cuxton Marina, near Rochester in Kent, from Boulogne in France on board the Albernina, skippered by David Payne, 43. The operation was allegedly masterminded by Harry Shilling, 25, with the help of Payne and his partner Jennifer Arthy, 42, and Michael Defraine, 30, John Smale, 58.

Arthy and Smale, from Rochester, Shilling, from Swanley, and Defraine, from Bexleyheath, deny being knowingly concerned in the evasion of a prohibition on importation of the firearms and conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life.

Richard Rye, 24, from Swanley; Payne, from Halling, and Christopher Owen, 30, from Cuxton, have admitted being knowingly concerned in the evasion of a prohibition on importation of the firearms. Rye and Payne have also admitted conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life.

The trial continues.

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