Briton jailed 7 yrs for smuggling guns to Nigeria

 Briton jailed 7 yrs for smuggling guns to Nigeria

AN arms dealer from Yorkshire in Northern England who helped ship thousands of AK47 assault rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition from China to Nigeria has been jailed for seven years.

Gary Hyde, 43, looked tearful as he was sentenced at London’s Southwark Crown Court following his conviction for two counts of breaching UK trade controls and concealing criminal property.

Hyde moved the weapons without a licence and hid more than one million US dollars (£620,460) in commission payments.

The deal between the two countries’ governments was lawful, but Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith said middleman Hyde was caught out by his own greed.

He failed to apply for a licence to take part in the deal, fearing it would be refused, but was attracted by the “enormous profits” to be made, the judge said.

Hyde, who was supported in court by his family, legitimately ran and expanded wholesale business York Guns to the point where it employed 20 staff in 2003.

He helped broker various arms deals including some for the British Government.

But in 2006 he got involved in the deal between China and Nigeria which saw up to 40,000 AK47s, 30,000 rifles and 10,000 9mm pistols go to Nigeria along with 32 million rounds of ammunition.

Hyde was convicted after a retrial on two counts of becoming knowingly concerned in the movement of controlled goods between March 2006 and December 2007.

A forfeiture and destruction hearing will be held at the court on December 17.

Lincolnshire Police are applying to destroy 12,300 AK47s Hyde owns which are held in a secure warehouse. (YORKSHIRE POST)

Source Daily Trust