Five men have been jailed for a total of 35 years for a firearms conspiracy after police found two loaded semi-automatic guns ready to fire when they approached their car in east London.
The 8mm guns were discovered when armed officers spotted their silver Vauxhall Astra in Stepney during a police operation in 2019.
All five in the car fled on foot as the officers approached, but were chased through the streets when three of them were caught.
They were sentenced yesterday (September 18) to seven years each for conspiracy to possess firearms and conspiracy to possess ammunition after their trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in March this year.
Two are from east London—22-year-old Jahvon Robinson, from Manchester Road on the Isle of Dogs, and 23-year-old Abdul Noor from Crystal Way in Chadwell Heath.
Two come from north London—the driver Riccardo Christophe, 29, from Albion Road in Stoke Newington, and Korey Lawrence, 25, from Bethune Road in Stamford Hill.
The fifth man, Charles Junior Frimpong, 23, is from Pinner Park Gardens in Harrow.
All five ran from the car leaving the engine running when police approached after it had been driven into Ewhurst Close, off Stepney Way.
One of the guns was dropped in the street during the chase when three of them, Frimpong, Lawrence and Noor, were caught and arrested.
Christophe managed to evade capture, but handed himself in at a police station a few hours later and admitted being the driver.
Detectives traced Robinson as the fifth man in the car who was arrested two months later in April last year.
Officers discovered one of the semi-automatic guns hidden in a rucksack on the front passenger seat when they searched the abandoned Vauxhall Astra and found the other while searching along Jamaica Street where the men were chased on foot.
Both weapons had been modified and had bullets. One had the hammer cocked ready to shoot.
“The firearms were loaded and thankfully police action prevented them being used,” Det Insp Glenn Butler from the Met’s Specialist Crime command said after yesterday’s jail sentences were handed down.
“I have no doubt these firearms would have been used to cause serious or even fatal injuries in the hands of those convicted or others.
“We have removed illegally-held firearms which have absolutely no place on our streets.”
Police also found a balaclava in the abandoned car and a box containing plastic latex gloves.
The detective said he hoped the seven years behind bars for each man “deters others from carrying firearms”.
Scotland Yard issued a public assurance today that operations were continuing as a priority to “bring perpetrators to justice and take weapons off the streets”.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here