A British arms dealer who helped ship thousands of guns
including ammunition from China to Nigeria without a license was jailed for
seven years at London’s Southwark Crown court on Wednesday.
Gary Hyde, 43, from Yorkshire in Northern England was
convicted for two counts of breaching UK trade controls and concealing criminal
property. In 2006, he got involved in
the deal between China and Nigeria which involved the transfer of 40,000 AK47
assault rifles, 30,000 other rifles and 10,000 nine-millimeter pistols to
Nigeria along with 32 million rounds of ammunition.
Hyde moved the weapons without a license and hid more than
one million US dollars in commission payments.
The deal between the two countries’ governments was lawful,
but Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith said middleman Hyde was caught out by his own
greed and was attracted by the profits to be made.
He was convicted after a retrial on two counts of becoming
knowingly concerned in the movement of controlled goods between March 2006 and
December 2007.
Culled from Citizen's Platform
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