A woman and three men have been jailed for a total of 29-and-a-half years for firearms offences after a gun and ammunition were discovered at an address in Dagenham and another gun in the boot of a car on the M2 motorway.
All four were sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court yesterday after admitting the charges against them at a hearing on January 29.
Officers from the Met’s Trident and Area Crime Command searching an address in Goresbrook Road in Dagenham discovered a handgun with 15 live rounds of ammunition, then found another 20 rounds in a holdall in a bedroom.
Sandy Hunter, 33, of Goresbrook Road in Dagenham, was handed a two-and-a-half years for assisting an offender.
Spencer Tapper, 27, of School Road in Dagenham, was sentenced to 15 years on two charges of possessing a firearm and two charges of possessing ammunition.
Aymon Popo, 33, from Romford, was given six-and-a-half years for conspiracy to possess a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life.
Mahesh Chaitoo, 28, from Southend-on-Sea, was sentenced to five-and-a-half years for possessing a firearm.
Hunter was arrested at the address Goresbrook Road on suspicion of possessing a firearm and ammunition.
She had been in contact with Tapper and was holding the gun and ammo for him, detectives later revealed.
“These defendants were carrying and exchanging firearms across London and Kent,” Det Insp Tim Grinsted said.
“Firearms pose a significant danger to the public and we are delighted that we’ve been able to take them off the streets.
“Gun crime of any kind will not be tolerated and we are committed to removing firearms from criminal circulation.”
Tapper and Chaitoo drove to Ramsgate last February to collect a gun. But they were stopped on the way back on the M2 near the Medway when a gun and 42 rounds of live ammunition were discovered in the boot of one of Chaitoo’s vehicles.
Police later linked Popo to the investigation in Dagenham. He was charged with “being the conduit who arranged to transport the firearm” and for conspiracy to possess a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life.
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