A GANG who West Midlands police caught with a potentially lethal homemade gun in a car in Coventry have been jailed for more than 30 years.
Armed officers acted on information and pulled over a Vauxhall Mokka in Caradoc Close on 8 May last year.
There were five men inside and an improvised firearm – known as a slamfire gun – was discovered in a footwell.
The weapon doesn’t look like a conventional gun but is just as dangerous.
Shotgun ammunition and cartridges were also found.
Jiguaerl Botamba 22, Jamal Knole 32, Andrew Clay 47, Paul Gordon 28 and Kameil Campbell 19 were arrested.
Analysis of phone records showed calls between the men.
Two of them – Botamba and Campbell – pleaded guilty to possession of the firearm and possession of the firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
Botamba was also separately convicted and sentenced for his involvement in a kidnapping and serious assault on a man in Coventry in 2018.
Knole was convicted in relation to the firearms offences following a trial and sentenced at Warwick Crown Court last Friday (10 December).
Clay and Gordon were also convicted over the slamfire gun following a trial and all other than Knole were sentenced last month.
Detective Chief Inspector Leanne Lowe, from the Regional Organised Crime Unit for the West Midlands (ROCUWM) said: “This was a potentially lethal weapon which has been taken off the streets.
“A slamfire gun may look different to your typical gun, but it can be just as destructive and harmful in the wrong hands.
“We will continue to take action to remove dangerous firearms and put those involved with unlawful guns behind bars.”
Campbell of Guild Road, Coventry, was sentenced to three years and Botamba of Little Duke Street, Nuneaton, was sentenced to five years and four months and an additional 10 years for the separate offences.
Gordon of Whiteness Grove, Coventry, was sentenced to eight years, Knole of Rosewood Avenue, Coventry, was sentenced to eight years and Clay of Black Prince Avenue, Coventry, was sentenced to six years.
