Gunman jailed for eight years over plan to convert blank-firers into lethal weapons
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A gunman who tried to convert nine blank-firers into lethal firearms has been jailed for eight years in one of the first cases of its kind.
Banaras Malang, aged 33, bought the weapons from legitimate sellers around the UK.
He went on to buy specialist equipment that would allow him to convert the guns, known as top-venting blank firers (TVBF), so that they could fire live ammunition.
The guns are now illegal to possess following testing by the National Crime Agency and policing, which showed models from four Turkish manufacturers were readily convertible and therefore illegal.
The case is one of the first of its kind in the country as the guns were blank firers, but Malang was convicted as if they were live-firing weapons as they were high quality and readily convertible into live-firing weapons.
Our investigation began when we received information that specialist equipment used to manufacture ammunition had been ordered and delivered to an address in Erdington.
The orders had been made using the bank card and address of a vulnerable man who Malang had taken advantage of.
Malang was arrested on 28 January this year, and a search of his home address led to the recovery of nine Turkish manufactured top venting blank firers along with a full set up for converting them into weapons capable of firing live ammunition, along with parts and ammunition making equipment.
At Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday (4 December), Malang, of Wandle Grove, was jailed for eight years for possession of those firearms.
Since 2021, UK law enforcement has recovered more than 800 of the which have been linked to crime. Converted blank firers have been used in at least four homicides in the UK in the last two years.
Det Insp Amar Patel from the Regional Organised Crime Unit for the West Midlands, said: "Malang was clearly intent on converting these weapons so that they could become lethal firearms, and they would undoubtedly have gone on to been used to commit crime causing untold fear and potential fatality.
"He went to great lengths to cover his tracks – using false names, addresses and exploited a vulnerable man to pay for some of the goods.
"We have taken nine weapons off the streets, and Malang is now behind bars."
The success is part of Operation Target, our 24/7 mission to tackle serious and organised crime in the West Midlands region. Detectives, intelligence teams, firearms officers and others work relentlessly to disrupt and bring to justice those involved in guns, drugs, money laundering, exploitation, and more.