Five members of a drug gang which blighted the streets of Liverpool with an arsenal of automatic weapons were jailed for nearly 100 years.
Police discovered the guns, plus thousands of pounds of Class A drugs, in raids carried out during Operation Camaro.
Liverpool Crown Court heard how officers targeted the Toxteth and Dingle based group between September 2013 and June 2014.
They found a Kommando sub-machine gun, a 12 gauge sawn-off pump action shotgun and a .45 calibre Norinco self-loading pistol in Upper Parliament Street, Toxteth on November 22, 2013.
Ammunition, balaclavas and body armour plus nearly £30,000 of heroin and cocaine and adulterant was also recovered from two flats belonging to the mum and sister of under pressure “warehouse man” Che Serrano, 25.
Dan Travers, prosecuting, said police descended on the flats after a shooting involving Aden Quartey, 25, and Curtis Ojapah, 25, who collected the Norinco earlier that day at around 1pm.
The masked pair on bikes encountered three men in nearby Rosebery Street, while Quartey was carrying the gun in a man bag.
One of the men pulled out a gun and shot at them seven times and they fled.
A terrified witness saw Quartey pull out his gun and return, intending to fire back at them, but the group had disappeared.
A week later undeterred Kwame Terry, 31, who prosecutors say was the gang’s ringleader, travelled to Manchester to get a replacement gun with his alleged deputy, Jordan Barber, 24, and Ojapah.
Kwame Terry (left) and his father Alan Marriott
They returned to Liverpool in the early hours of November 29 and Terry visited his dad Alan Marriott’s home in Alexandra Green, Aigburth.
A raid later that day uncovered a 9mm Ruger self-loading pistol and bullets along with more heroin, cocaine and cutting agents.
Prosecutors say Barber then acted on behalf of Terry when he went to Mill Lane in Old Swan on March 20, 2014 to collect an Ingram MAC-11 sub-machine gun.
Barber was tracked by police helicopter and caught red handed after dumping the gun in Mystery Park, Wavertree, while talking to Terry on the phone.
Mr Travers said Barber was also organising the distribution of around two kilos of cannabis.
In total 1.2kg of heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine, 8.5kg of adulterant and 2.4kg of cannabis were attributed to the group.
Terry, of Leeds Street, and Barber, of Old Hall Street, both in Liverpool city centre, were convicted of conspiring to possess firearms and conspiring to supply Class A drugs. Barber also admitted conspiracy to supply Class B drugs.
Serrano, of Upper Parliament Street; Quartey, of Selbourne Close; and Curtis Ojapah, 25, of Peel Street; all Toxteth, were found guilty of conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life.
Quartey was also found guilty of conspiracy to possess firearms, which Serrano admitted, along with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.
Terry and Barber faced three trials in total, after the first one collapsed last December.
The jury were unable to reach a verdict in March on the intent to endanger life charge and they were cleared of this offence again when retried last month.
Barristers defending Terry and Barber disputed that they were the leaders of the gang, arguing that the jury rejected this by finding them not guilty of the most serious charge.
But Judge Alan Conrad, QC, said he was satisfied that Terry was at “the top of the hierarchy” with Barber his “second-in-command”.
The judge said they were a “highly determined and dangerous” gang, who dealt in banned guns and drugs on a “very considerable scale”.
He said: “All too regularly the streets of this great city are blighted by the activities of such gangs, by the use of such weapons to kill or to maim or to terrify, by the distribution of controlled drugs resulting in addiction, acquisitive crime to fund addiction and in violence between rival gangs for ownership of the turf.
“Those who have become involved in such activities must be aware that severe punishment awaits.”
Judge Conrad jailed Terry for 25 years and Barber for 21 years.
He gave Quartey and Ojapah extended sentences of 21 years and 20 years respectively, consisting of 16 and 15-year custodial periods and an extended five years on licence.
The judge sentenced Serrano – who he said had been taken advantage of – to 11 years behind bars.
News updates throughout the day in our live feed here
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/