Two West Midlands men have been arrested for their involvement in the storing and supplying of guns and ammunition to crime groups.
29-year-old Umair Khan from Birmingham made purchases of firearms, including more than 50 revolvers, using the dark web, and was caught in February by police after ordering a hand grenade.
He was jailed for 22 years.
Khan had previously admitted firearms offences at the city’s crown court.
A second man, 27-year-old Nazim Hussain of West Bromwich, was jailed for nine years for helping to manage deliveries and store weapons.
Hussain had previously admitted the importation of ammunition, the importation of prohibited ammunition and the importation of two stun guns.
The men were both sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday.
Khan, from Bordesley Green, admitted selling firearms and ammunition, importation of ammunition and prohibited ammunition and importing prohibited weapons between August 2014 and February of this year.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) said he was arrested on 20 February after ordering the grenade and arranging for it to be delivered to an address in Birmingham.
NCA officers and Metropolitan police intercepted the package, replacing the contents with a non-explosive substitute before allowing it to be delivered.
Four revolvers and 15 rounds of ammunition were found when officers subsequently searched Khan’s home.
“Khan was an illegal firearms trader of most significant standing,” said prosecutor Jonathan Cox.
“He personally ran an extremely well established commercial enterprise which sold around 50 fully functioning prohibited firearms, in particular pistols and over 1,500 rounds of compatible ammunition.
“He would have been responsible for arming a substantial number of serious criminals in the Birmingham area.”
Khan had his parcels imported into the UK and hidden within postal parcels and packets from Sweden, where had he formed a relationship with a manufacturer. He then sold the firearms and ammunition to organised crime groups across the UK, the NCA said – including two 16-year-old boys.
Mr Cox said Khan’s first purchase was made was in May 2014 when he bought a Smith and Wesson .38 calibre pistol on line.
He used bitcoin to make the purchases, buying £8,500 worth in one year.
Judge Peter Carr said Khan had spent over £50,000 in buying guns and that the grenade was addressed to the home of a mother-of-two with the dangers “all too apparent.”
He said: “These activities over prolonged period of time place you in the premier league of weapons suppliers.”
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