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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Neal Keeling

Big K, Beefy, and The Fish - the men who armed 'Gunchester'

Umair Zaheer Police Bilal Khan Gooch Manchester Manchester Crown Court

They supplied items of clout, kudos and lethal force to criminals. They were 'merchants of death' as one was branded, feeding gangs with firepower.

Mac-10s and Uzi sub machine guns from war zones and Soviet bloc countries helped fuel Greater Manchester's gang wars in the 80s and 90s, before a new wave of armourers began converting gas-firing pistols from Eastern Europe after the millennium, triggering another deadly cycle.

Police cracked down on those supply lines, but now the hacking of EncroChat - the private messaging system dubbed Gangster Whatsapp - has exposed the new breed of armourers who stepped into the void.

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