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Gun man suspect just a 'naughty boy'

22/ 5/2008

A MAN accused of being part of the country's biggest underworld gun supply chain might be a `phone-freak' and a `naughty boy with his car' but he's not a gun-runner, a court heard.

Kaleem Akhtar's defence told a Manchester Crown Court jury he knew those involved in a conspiracy to supply guns but was not part of their team.

The prosecution say Mr Akhtar, from Chorlton, was one of a number of men responsible for distributing an `assassin's armoury' of Russian self-loading pistols, silencers and bullets.

Mr Akhtar denies conspiracy to supply weapons to enable others to endanger life. But Dorian Lovell-Pank QC, defending, said the prosecution had no direct evidence that Mr Akhtar was involved.

He said a fingerprint found on a carrier bag containing guns found in a car stopped by police could have been left there at any time.

He said it did not prove beyond all doubt that Mr Akhtar was involved in selling Baikal pistols to members of the criminal underworld.

He said Mr Akhtar, 29, came from a wealthy and hard-working family who had made their money through a clothing business with premises in Manchester and Liverpool.

Mr Lovell-Pank called into question why someone from such a `privileged' background would go into gun-running for the cash.

Mr Akhtar, of St Brannock's Road, Chorlton is accused of being part of the `largest connected network of illegally held weapons ever seen in this country'.

Referring to evidence of phone calls between Mr Akhtar and other men involving in supplying guns, he said his client was a `phone freak' and a `night-owl'. But in his closing address to the jury he said that although Mr Akhtar had previous convictions for driving while disqualified and had given his brother's details when stopped by police, this did not make him guilty of the weapons charge.

He said: "Whatever suspicions you may have had at the beginning, now you have the whole picture you cannot say with your hand on your heart `I am sure he is the guilty gun-runner as alleged'." He added: "He may have been a naughty boy with his car but he is not a criminal and he's not a gun-runner."

The trial has heard batches of the weapons and accessories were brought up north by Lithuanian brothers from Essex.
Mr Akhtar is accused of being part of a team which took delivery of the guns which were repackaged and sold to criminals

Proceeding