
Two men have been handed lengthy jail terms after police found sawn-off shotguns stashed under the seats of a car they were stopped in.
Firearms officers pulled over the Citroen C3 driven by Yasir Nassir at 5am on 10 September last year in Newtown Row.
They spotted shotgun cartridges in the rear seat footwell and a search of the car which uncovered two short-barrelled firearms, plus a starter pistol, hidden under the seats. Nassir was travelling with a passenger identified as Kuldipsingh Atwal.
Subsequent searches of 45-year-old Nassir’s home in Moncrieffe Street, Walsall, uncovered another shotgun, a silencer, two air rifles, pellets and blank 6mm cartridges.
Both Nassir and Atwal, denied knowledge of the guns and refused to answer any police questions when interviewed.
However, they were both found guilty on the same offences and jailed for eight years.
West Midlands Police Detective Inspector Vanessa Eyles said “This was a great piece of police work - intelligence suggested the car was linked to firearms and the information proved spot on.
We had no evidence these shotguns had been fired but possession alone leaves offenders facing many years behind bars. This result is a strong message to the criminal fraternity that holding illegal weapons will be dealt with severely by us and the courts.”