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Half guns seized in Manchester are modified replicas, reveals 91Èȱ¬ Inside Out
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Last night's Inside Out North West revealed that half the guns seized in Manchester are now replica guns which have been modified. Many are from Germany or Lithuania.
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DCI John Lyons from Greater Manchester Police told the programme:
"Half the guns we recover in Manchester are converted guns. If we could stop those guns at source we would halve the gun problem here."
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Replica guns are banned in Britain and it is also an offence to bring them into this country.
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But, the Inside Out investigation reveals that is not the case throughout the rest of Europe, and countries like Germany and Lithuania are now the major supply route for these kind of weapons.
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Converting weapons to fire real ammunition is a lucrative, deadly trade for those willing to take the risk and can be easier than obtaining real guns.
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These types of guns – which are often unstable – have been used for murders and attacks across the country.
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Greater Manchester Police set up Operation Carbon to track the movements of a gang that smuggled 274 sports guns from Germany into this country. They were then converted to fire real ammunition at a workshop in Ancoats, Manchester.
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Operation Carbon was a major breakthrough for the police but, although they managed to recover many of the guns and arrest most of the gang, they discovered many guns had already vanished into the criminal underworld.
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DCI Lyons told the programme: "There are at least 100 to 150 converted guns out there on the streets that we haven't recovered from Operation Carbon. It is very worrying to think that they are out there."
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Inside Out travelled across Europe, to some of Germany and Lithuania's remotest areas, as part of the investigation to find the source of guns coming in to the North West of England.
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Whilst Germany is known as a supplier of replica guns into Britain, Lithuania is an emerging source.
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Kestutis Tubis, Deputy Police Commissioner General, Lithuania Police, told Inside Out: "The criminals are pretty smart here. You can buy a gun in Russia for 200 litas (£40), sell it in Lithuania for 400 litas (£80) and sell it in Great Britain for 10,000 (£2,000) litas."
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The Inside Out North West investigation revealed how one gang smuggled guns, complete with silencers, inside a specially adapted car from Lithuania to Manchester.
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Supt Paul Savill, Greater Manchester Police, told the programme: "There's no doubt in my mind we have a major problem with Lithuania. They were assassins' weapons."
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One person who has been keeping a close watch on the trafficking of guns from Germany and Lithuania is Arlene McCarthy, the North West's Member of the European Parliament.
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She is chairing a committee hoping to bring new legislation before the Brussels Parliament that will classify the replica guns as firearms and restrict their sale.
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Notes to Editors
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 Please ensure that Inside Out Noth West is credited.
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Inside Out, 91Èȱ¬ One Norh West, 7.30pm, Wednesday
31 October 2007. Ìý
Viewers outside the North West England region can watch the programme on digital satellite channel 975 or at bbc.co.uk/insideout.
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NL2/JC
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