Illegal gun smuggler caught red handed at UK border as police find weapons taped to car bumper
Met Police and UK Border Force intercept car carrying 18 illegal loaded guns and ammunition
GB News
A man has been caught red-handed as he attempted to smuggle illegal guns and ammunition into Britain.
Karl Tugwell, 41, arrived at the Port of Dover in Kent by ferry when his car was searched by the Metropolitan Police and Border Force.
Footage released by the police on social media shows the man's car being scrupulously searched and, later, Tugwell's arrest.
Officers discovered 18 guns and around 230 rounds of ammunition shoved into a bumper of a silver BMW on March 17 last year.
Footage released by the police on X shows the man's car being scrupulously searched and, later, Tugwell's arrest
Metropolitan Police
The guns were seemingly wrapped up in grey plastic bags and taped up.
Padded foam had also been used to pack the weapons.
Before his arrest, the video depicts the man sitting inside the port before officers approach him.
Since, he has pleaded guilty to "being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of goods", LBC reports.
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The guns were found to have been fully functional, as well as capable of causing "lethal harm", according to the Met.
The force added that their co-ordinated efforts with Border Force "prevented a potentially fatal threat to public safety".
As a result, the man was handed a 12-year-long sentence when he appeared at Canterbury Crown Court last November.
The Met's successful operation has followed the National Crime Agency's (NCA) seizure of 20 firearms from a suspected gun factory in Berkshire last December.
Officers discovered 18 guns and around 230 rounds of ammunition shoved into a bumper of a silver BMW on March 17 last year
Metropolitan Police
Police also found 11 imitation guns in addition to four Glock pistols, nine shotguns, six long-barrelled firearms, as well as a Bren machine gun during the raid.
Chris Hill, NCA Branch Commander, said: "This is a very significant haul. We've identified and prevented a large number of lethal weapons reaching the streets of the UK.
"These weapons had the potential to cause devastation within our communities.
"There is no place in the UK for illegal firearms which often end up in the possession of organised criminals who use them to enforce their operations.
"Protecting the public from the threat of the criminal use of firearms remains a key priority and we work with partners at home and abroad to combat their importation into the UK."
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