Eastern European crime gangs smuggling guns into the UK warns police chief

Guns smuggled from Eastern Europe and the Balkans are fuelling dramatic rise in illegal weapons on UK streets, top police chief warns

  • Chief Constable Andy Cooke said guns were flooding in from Eastern Europe
  • Many illegal firearms in the UK are smuggled through the Netherlands 
  • He claimed border officials and police were struggling to stop guns coming in
  • A corrupt border guard was jailed in November for trying to smuggle guns 

Guns from Eastern Europe and the Balkans are fuelling a dramatic rise in the number of illegal weapons in the UK, a senior policeman has warned.

The national police lead for serious and organised crime, chief constable Andy Cooke, said the number of guns on the streets rose this year and officers fear it will continue to go up in 2019.

Border officials and police are struggling to hold back the tide of weapons entering the country, he told The Guardian.

Merseyside Chief Constable Andy Cooke, pictured, warned that Eastern European crime gangs are trying to smuggle guns and ammunition into the UK 

Corrupt UK Border Force agent Simon Pellett, 37, attempted to smuggle this pistol into the UK

Corrupt UK Border Force agent Simon Pellett, 37, attempted to smuggle this pistol into the UK

The newspaper said the situation is so serious that the National Crime Agency has used its powers to demand all police forces do more to tackle illegal guns.

Mr Cooke, chief constable of Merseyside, said: ‘We are doing all we can. We are not in a position to stop it any time soon. Law enforcement is more joined up now than before but the scale of the problem is such that despite a number of excellent firearms seizures, I expect the rise in supply to be a continuing issue.’

Many of the weapons on British streets come via the Netherlands, which the NCA says is a hub for gun smuggling.

Organised criminal gangs are finding new ways to beat security. In November, corrupt British border guard Simon Pellett was jailed for trying to smuggle three holdalls containing eight pistols, two revolvers and ammunition.

Corrupt UK Border Agency officer Simon Pellett, pictured, was caught trying to smuggle eight pistols, two revolvers and ammunition into the country

Corrupt UK Border Agency officer Simon Pellett, pictured, was caught trying to smuggle eight pistols, two revolvers and ammunition into the country

Mr Cooke said rising numbers of parcels being processed with the explosion in online shopping make it much easier for criminals to send firearm parts through the post. Some criminals are also turning to the ‘dark web’ to buy illegal guns.

The last set of official figures showed a 5 per cent fall in gun crime in the year to June, but this is seen as a blip in an upward trend. Earlier statistics for 2017/18 showed gun crime was up 11 per cent.

The NCA said: ‘A wide variety of criminal groups operate throughout the UK, exercising varying degrees of discipline and sophistication, with many methods of obtaining, storing, sharing and using firearms. Firearms are obtained through criminal networks, cultural connections and from criminal armourers who supply across groups.’

It comes as government figures show the number of knives seized at UK ports and airports has more than doubled in a year to almost 8,000.

Border Force officials confiscated 7,668 bladed items in the 12 months to September, up from 3,800 the year before. There was also a 61 per cent rise in the number of other ‘offensive weapons’ seized, from 4,056 to 6,534.

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk