Plot to smuggle three rifles into the UK is foiled

  • Albanian authorities have foiled a plot to smuggle three AK-47 assault rifles into Britain
  • Police fear the guns seized at a London address were to be used in a terror attack
  •  Last month police found 79 handguns bound for Britain hidden in engine blocks

A plot to smuggle three AK-47 assault rifles into Britain in a courier box has been foiled by the Albanian authorities.

Police fear the guns seized en route to a London address were due to be used in a terror attack or organised crime.

Security staff found the weapons at the cargo section of Tirana airport moments before they were due to be loaded.

Security staff found the weapons at the cargo section of Tirana airport moments before they were due to be loaded (pictured)

They were wrapped in towels and cellophane inside a DHL box also containing clothes and letters.

Albanian anti-terror police had stepped up surveillance following terror attacks in London and Barcelona.

Officers have not released the intended delivery address but said they have alerted their UK counterparts.

They were wrapped in towels and cellophane inside a DHL box also containing clothes and letters

They were wrapped in towels and cellophane inside a DHL box also containing clothes and letters

Sajmir Cullhaj, 32, who was arrested in Albania following the seizure, is alleged to have received an order to move the guns three days before sending the package on Friday evening.

He has refused to give more details about where the weapons came from, what they were to be used for or their intended recipient. Detectives are also hunting a man – known by the initials NF – from the town of Durres, west of Tirana, where the package was sent from.

A spokesman for DHL did not respond to a request to comment yesterday.

Last month police found 79 handguns bound for Britain hidden in engine blocks being ferried by van through the Channel Tunnel. It was the largest haul of handguns ever seized by British police.

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk