A PhD-educated crook dubbed the ‘Breaking Bad of the gun world’ who supplied weapons to criminal gangs across the UK has been jailed for 14 years.
Mohinder Surdhar, 58, acted as a middleman for rogue firearms dealer Paul Edmunds, 66, who turned his countryside home into a mini munitions factory.
Surdhar, of Handsworth, Birmingham, used a legitimate firearms certificate to collect weapons which were then flogged to crooks for up to £3,000 per firearm.
Mohinder Surdhar (left) acted as a middleman for rogue firearms dealer Paul Edmunds (right)
The armoury in the garage of Edmunds’s home, which was turned into a mini munitions factory
Polcie officers found more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition in Edmunds’s garage armoury
The karate expert, who was described as ‘well educated and well respected’, supplied the weapons and ammunition via a complex criminal network.
Some of the weapons were linked to the murders of Derek Junior Myers in 2015 and Kenichi Phillips in 2016, who were both shot in Birmingham.
Another gun was also used in a fatal shooting at the Avalon nightclub in London’s West End on Boxing Day 2013.
Yesterday, Surdhar was jailed for 14 years at Birmingham Crown Court after he admitted conspiracy to transfer prohibited firearms and ammunition.
The court heard Surdhar used code words like ‘watches’ to mean guns and ‘batteries’ for bullets on WhatsApp to arrange gun sales.
Investigations led officers to Edmunds who was arrested at his home (above) in Hardwicke
Some of the weapons were linked to the murders of Derek Junior Myers (left) in 2015 and Kenichi Phillips (right) in 2016, who were both shot in Birmingham in separate incidents
Police outside the scene of Mr Phillips’s murder in Ladywood, Birmingham, two years ago
He supplied weapons to Sundish Nazran, 32, who was the chief armourer of notorious Birmingham gang the Burger Bar Boys.
Surdhar supplied weapons to Sundish Nazran (pictured), who was the chief armourer of notorious gang the Burger Bar Boys
Nazran was jailed for 13 years in 2015 but his sentence was increased to 17 years and three months in 2016 while gang leader Nosakhere Stephenson, 41, was caged for 22 years.
Experts at the National Ballistics Intelligence Service then realised tool markings on the ammunition matched others they had recovered and collated as ‘Operation Gold Dust’.
Investigations led them to Edmunds who was arrested at his home in Hardwicke, Gloucestershire, in 2015 where officers found more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition in his garage armoury.
Last December, Edmunds was jailed for 30 years for his role in the network of arming criminals. A dozen more men were also convicted of firearms offences.
Karate expert Surdhar (pictured), who has a PhD and is described as ‘well educated and well respected’, supplied the weapons and ammunition via a complex criminal network
The court heard Surdhar used code words like ‘watches’ to mean guns and ‘batteries’ for bullets on WhatsApp to arrange gun sales
One of the guns used in a murder is pictured. Surdhar was jailed for 14 years in Birmingham
Police described Edmunds and Surdhar as the ‘Breaking Bad of the gun world’ – a reference to the US drug crime TV series starring Aaron Paul (left) and Bryan Cranston (right)
The court heard Edmunds supplied the guns and deadly ammo to gangsters in the West Midlands via Surdhar ‘almost upon demand’.
Some of his bullets were also used in an attempt to shoot down a police helicopter in Birmingham during the 2011 riots.
Detective Constable Phil Rodgers, of West Midlands Police, described Edmunds and Surdhar as the ‘Breaking Bad of the gun world’ – a reference to the US drug crime TV series.
He added they were ‘decent men but used their skills and expertise to provide deadly firearms.’
Judge Richard Bond told that ‘over a period of several years you acted as the fulcrum in the supply of prohibited weapons and ammunition to criminal gangs.’