Man jailed for making improvised firearms
- Published
A man making improvised firearms has been jailed for 12 years and 9 months.
West Midlands Police said officers were able to forensically link so-called "slam guns" they discovered to Kemarn Riley, of Ward End, Birmingham.
Later, similar weapons found by Metropolitan Police colleagues were also linked to the 24-year-old, the West Midlands force said.
Riley admitted the manufacture of a weapon and ammunition at a previous hearing at Birmingham Crown Court, along with two counts of possession of a firearm.
The force said the initial discoveries were made in January 2023 when officers searched an address in Handsworth, Birmingham, following a report of criminal damage.
As well as a converted blank-firing pistol and shotgun shells, they found a bag in the garden containing two metal pipes.
Police said they suspected these could be combined to form a crude weapon which could be fired by employing a slamming motion.
A further "slam gun" was found in a vehicle the following month and in March the Metropolitan Police got in touch to report weapons of a similar description, which were also forensically linked to Riley.
PC Owen Zambra from West Midlands Police said: 鈥淭hese weapons can maim and kill, and they鈥檙e supplied to criminals who use them to intimidate and elicit fear in others."
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