A man from Nottinghamshire who imported and supplied illegal guns, which could have been converted to fire lethal ammunition, has been spared jail and given community service. Gavin Dawes was arrested at his home in East Leake in July last year after a 9mm blank firing Sig Sauer gun was seized at Gatwick Airport a few days earlier.
The weapon, which had been sent from Spain, had been falsely declared as a ‘decorative weapon, saber sword and bayonet’. A saber sword is a heavy military sword with a long cutting edge and, often, a curved blade.
NCA investigators also found that Dawes had attempted to import an Ekol Viper front-venting blank firearm and 100 rounds of ammunition via Birmingham Airport in May 2020. These were intercepted by Border Force officials and destroyed.
