Five jailed after sniper rifles seized (From Croydon Guardian)
Contact us: Got a photo? Text SLPICS to 80360, click to upload your story, or call
020 8722 6350
Five jailed after sniper rifles seized
2:10pm Monday 8th October 2012 in News By Omar Oakes
A gun dealer and his customers, who were found with deadly sniper rifle with a silencer and maximum-damage bullets, have been jailed for a total of 58 years.
Woolwich Crown court heard on Friday (October 5) how Tyron Harding, 45, went to Lambeth to sell a gun to four other men which was loaded with ammunition designed to cause maximum injury on November 1, 2011.
Harding, from Phipps Bridge Road, Mitcham, was sentenced to 11 years in prison after admitting possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.
One of the buyers, Loyan Osman, was then stopped in his minicab by police who were on a surveillance operation by the Metropolitan Police’s Trident unit, named Operation Boneset.
Osman, from Anchor Street, Catford, was found with the .22 bolt-action rifle, with 57 rounds of ammunition, after officers searched the boot of his car in Brighton Road, South Croydon.
Police also found a rifle with a sniper scope attached, along with a silencer. It was loaded with a bullet in the breach and more in a magazine.
Osman, Anthony Hosey, Khadar Mire and Nathaniel Tracey had been watched by police as they travelled from Lambeth in Mire's BMW to make the purchase from Harding.
As Osman travelled back to Lambeth in the minicab, his colleagues followed in the BMW.
Officers arrested Osman at the scene and later detained Hosey, Mire and Tracey following further investigation.
Weeks later, on December 12, officers raided the home of Harding's girlfriend in Merstham, near Redhill in Surrey, close to the scene of the first transaction on November 1.
While searching the loft they found a further .22 bolt-action rifle with telescopic sight and silencer, as well as three boxes of hollow-point ammunition, containing 62 rounds.
Detective Sergeant Phil Holt, of the Trident Gang Crime Command, said: "These men were found in possession of the kind of lethal weaponry that is typically associated with the most dangerous of criminals.
"Such items are owned solely by those intent on causing serious harm to their planned target or targets, and our officers deserve huge credit for this intervention which followed a skilled and painstaking investigation.
"We can only speculate about the intended recipient of the second rifle found at Harding's home, however, what is clear is that London is far safer with these individuals and weapons off the streets."
Loyan Osman, 25, denied possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life but was convicted following a trial. He also admitted possession of a firearm and was sentenced to 14 years.
His accomplices pleaded not guilty but were convicted on June 22 by the court and also sentenced on October 5:
Anthony Hosey, 25, of Fiveways Road, Brixton, was sentenced to 16 years.
Khadar Mire, 25, of Bell Green Lane, Sydenham, was sentenced to 16 years.
Nathaniel Tracey, 27, of Akerman Road, Brixton, was sentenced to 15 years.
Comments(21)
lurelle
says...
11:00pm Mon 8 Oct 12
G_Whiz
says...
12:43am Tue 9 Oct 12
Sentences should have been longer - seems like the 'fugs' were preparing for a war!
lurelle
says...
8:59am Tue 9 Oct 12
edstar
says...
9:55am Tue 9 Oct 12
lurelle wrote:He is far worse than a thug (the word you are looking for) He is a man who sold an illegal gun to others. Why would anyone want a gun if it's not to either threaten people or shoot people? Why have hollow point bullets? Their only use is to kill or seriously injure people.
as i said once again my uncle is hardly a fug.
I wonder how many guns your uncle sold and how many people they have injured and killed.
lurelle
says...
11:33am Tue 9 Oct 12
whats annoyed me more is how they've put this all into the guardian
edstar
says...
12:16pm Tue 9 Oct 12
lurelle wrote:So what has your uncle don’t through that justifies him selling weapons to thugs? Also how do you know that the gun wouldn’t have been used to kill anyone?
listen mate you dont know my uncle or what his been through... leave your stupid **** out. my uncle isnt a thug. more like the people he was giving it to are... he didnt do any harm... sending him away for 11 years is stupid when theres murderes and rapistss that get a sorter sentene. I know he done wrong and someone could of been harmed but no one was and probly wouldnt of been... he hasnt ever sold a gun before so dont gudge people on mistakes they've done before..
whats annoyed me more is how they've put this all into the guardian
And it’s in the Guardian because its news. Remember that the gun would have been used to harm us, the public.
G_Whiz
says...
1:48pm Tue 9 Oct 12
edstar wrote:Quite right edstar - I think Lurelle is just living up to some kind of stereotype!
lurelle wrote:So what has your uncle don’t through that justifies him selling weapons to thugs? Also how do you know that the gun wouldn’t have been used to kill anyone?
listen mate you dont know my uncle or what his been through... leave your stupid **** out. my uncle isnt a thug. more like the people he was giving it to are... he didnt do any harm... sending him away for 11 years is stupid when theres murderes and rapistss that get a sorter sentene. I know he done wrong and someone could of been harmed but no one was and probly wouldnt of been... he hasnt ever sold a gun before so dont gudge people on mistakes they've done before..
whats annoyed me more is how they've put this all into the guardian
And it’s in the Guardian because its news. Remember that the gun would have been used to harm us, the public.
Glad the guns are in safe hands now!
mitcham town
says...
3:55pm Tue 9 Oct 12
lurelle
says...
3:57pm Tue 9 Oct 12
lurelle
says...
4:12pm Tue 9 Oct 12
edstar
says...
4:25pm Tue 9 Oct 12
lurelle wrote:This is the LOCAL GUARDIAN so it has local news such as this. And it's not your uncle private life.
myy arsee. he wouldnt of done anything with the gun because it wasnt for him REMEMBER. Its a gun to go and shoot animals... like WTF. The news is aload of **** anyway putting silly things like this up when theres children going missing, killed, raped... wars going on scientistic stuff going on and what do they do go and put my uncles private life so everyone can read. ITS ****! its not like his a terrorist and has actually done something bad. SO suck out.
Also its illegal to sell guns without a licence because guns are used to kill people. It's as simple as that. I cant understand why its so difficult for you to understand. And it is like he has done something bad. That's why he is in jail!
mitcham town
says...
9:52pm Tue 9 Oct 12
edstar
says...
10:07pm Tue 9 Oct 12
mitcham town wrote:My kids can spell better than you. Lol. Go to school and learn English!
LOL how sad are use lot. Don't you have kids to see to or have a job to attend? By the looks of it you have either if your just sitting behind your screen judging my cousin who you don't even know! Do you have this much to say when you read about a nonse?? Go hang ya **** of the nearest lamppost!
mitcham town
says...
9:09am Wed 10 Oct 12
trasie
says...
9:17am Wed 10 Oct 12
mitcham town
says...
9:19am Wed 10 Oct 12
edstar
says...
9:33am Wed 10 Oct 12
mitcham town wrote:I hope you fill in your benefit forms correctly!
That's the way I like to spell thank you. So mate go suck ur mother
mitcham town
says...
9:42am Wed 10 Oct 12
edstar
says...
10:03am Wed 10 Oct 12
mitcham town wrote:LOL!!!!
Same way I hope you fill in your mums. But when you judge someone it DOESN'T define the person your judging it defines YOU!!! No life, sad ****, top dossers!
My mother doesn't claim any benefits and she can read and write!
So by your comment, it's the judge who should be in jail?
G_Whiz
says...
2:37pm Fri 12 Oct 12
edstar wrote:You have to Laugh really. eh, Ed. - Now i know where Little Britain got it's inspiration for Vicky Pollard!
mitcham town wrote:LOL!!!!
Same way I hope you fill in your mums. But when you judge someone it DOESN'T define the person your judging it defines YOU!!! No life, sad ****, top dossers!
My mother doesn't claim any benefits and she can read and write!
So by your comment, it's the judge who should be in jail?
random name says...
6:46pm Mon 8 Oct 12
I am off to lobby the government to supply all our soldiers with ' the kind of lethal weaponry that is typically associated with the most dangerous of criminals' - .22 rifles!!! LOL.