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A Midlands trio who plotted a ‘£100k-a-month’ mail order gun service smuggling US pistols and bullets into the UK have been jailed for a combined total of 35 years.
Dashan Caines, aged 46 and of Sutton Coldfield, played a lesser role but was involved in an “efficient distribution network” which saw three guns smuggled into the country in January last year.
They were disguised as car parts in an insulated safe, with plans for the dealers to ‘quickly’ sell them onto the criminal market in what the judge branded an “audacious scheme to set up an illegal business”.
Caines, alongside ‘established conspirators’ Dion Roberts and Keston Joseph, both 33 and from Coventry, were all convicted of conspiring to acquire and sell prohibited weapons and ammunition.
Read more:‘We make a lot o’money bro’ – Dealers disguised US mail order guns as car parts to sell onto gangs
The smugglers sought out brand new handguns from the US as they have ‘no footprint of criminality’ – therefore were less likely to be detected by police after use in shootings, Birmingham Crown Court heard.
Roberts, who took the leading role, told one prospective buyer the guns would cost £5,000, but he would sell it for £4,500, and promised another he could get “whatever firearms he wanted”.
The court heard how all three men took an active role in ‘marketing’ the guns. Joseph told Roberts he had a ‘customer’ in London who would “buy all of the firearms they had imported” and wanted six new handguns.
(Image: NCA)
In anticipation of making “a lot o’money”, Roberts also searched for Rolex watches and a bank note counter.
The court heard of the trio’s mutual “desire to be flooded with firearms”, with Roberts also outlining hopes to sell 20 firearms a month – a total the prosecutor says “would have resulted in £100,000” every month.
But their conspiracy fell apart when they were arrested by National Crime Agency officers before they could receive the second importation of guns.
Harpreet Sandhu, prosecuting, told the court: “There was significant planning including but not limited to the significant steps to avoid detection.
“They were expecting a substantial financial advantage. Dion Roberts took the lead in communicating with ‘Shotta’, however Keston Joseph was well aware of that communication as indeed was Dashan Caines from January 11 onwards.
“They were all part of a planning process. All defendants took an active role in marketing the firearms. In effect they were working together.”
(Image: NCA)
Roberts previously was cautioned for sending a letter conveying a threat, while Joseph and Caines, of Falcon Lodge Crescent, were of “good character” before the offences.
Defending Roberts, Simon Hunka, said the impact of his experience in custody would be “extremely difficult” even for the most “seasoned criminals”.
He added: “This is a family man, it is not just the impact it’s had on him, but his family. He has a daughter, who is seven.
“He has left a gaping hole in that family, as a result of him living in custody now.
“He is on any view, an individual who works crazy hours to provide for his family and provide a better life for them.
“He of course deserves to be in custody. He acknowledges he deserves to remain in custody for some time to come. He is someone who comes to the court wishing to properly accept that, which he has done.”
In audio messages, Roberts instructed his contact in America, ‘Shotta’, to send a semi-automatic pistol in a safe that was insulated with carbon paper and to “just show them as car parts innit”.
Roberts and Joseph collected the package containing the first weapon on January 11, 2020. Officers recovered a photo from Joseph’s phone of him holding the gun, which was taken within an hour of opening the parcel.
Defending Joseph, Anthony Bell, argued Roberts was the “driving force” for the conspiracy, with him making all the contact within the US.
“Undoubtedly he was a form of support, accompanying Mr Roberts to Rugby, speaking to him on the phone and perhaps introducing contacts for potential purchase,” Mr Bell told the court.
(Image: NCA)
“Beyond that, it’s difficult to see what he did. He is working at Amazon, he is married, he has a child, his wife has children as well.
“He was an assistant in, what Mr Hunka submits, was a fledgling operation. It never really got going. It was certainly not highly sophisticated.”
Officers recovered a safe with a weapon still hidden inside two months later in a bush near Roberts’ home in Meriden. When National Crime Agency (NCA) forensic scientists analysed the weapon, they discovered Caines’ DNA on it.
Defending Caines, Gordon Carse, argued he was no more than a “cheerleader” or supporter who had no input in the practical or physical side of the conspiracy.
He said: “He is, in any view, a low level player in this conspiracy. He had no involvement in the discussion in profit sharing arrangements.
“No input was sought from him as to the saleability of the weapons that might be inferred up until the importation of the first parcel was delivered.
“By the time he joins, not only is [the conspiracy] underway, but it is in the process of being dismantled by the authorities.
“He was in significant financial difficulty after he lost his job. He seems to have fallen into this position as a result of those financial difficulties.”
- Dion Roberts, of Lodge Green Lane, Meriden, was jailed for 12 years as his sentence was reduced due to his guilty plea
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Keston Joseph, of Broad Street, Coventry, was jailed for 14 years
- Dashan Caines, of Falcon Lodge Crescent, Sutton Coldfield, was jailed for 9 years
Judge Heidi Kubik QC told them: “This was an audacious scheme to set up an illegal business importing illegal firearms from America and to sell them onto the criminal market in the UK and beyond.
“Whilst I acknowledge that that sequence of events involved an element of wishful thinking and hyperbole as to the potential scale of this enterprise, I am satisfied that there was a settled intention and agreement to import further prohibited firearms and ammunition to order and supply them onto the criminal market.
BrumWish 2021 aims to get thousands of Christmas gifts to young children in need across our city – the homeless, the vulnerable, kids in care and kids who have little.
This year’s appeal is bigger and better than ever – because we have teamed up with our partners at #Toys4Birmingham, including Thrive Together Birmingham, the Birmingham Playcare Network, the Edgbaston Foundation and Birmingham Forward Steps.
Also involved are Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Trust, Barnardo’s, Spurgeon’s children’s charity, the Springfield project in Sparkhill, St Paul’s Community Development Trust and Your Local Pantry, which runs food hubs in 12 locations across Birmingham and the Black Country.
You can buy a gift from the #Brumwish Amazon Wishlist here.
Or you can collect and drop off donations of new and nearly new toys and gifts to special donation days at Edgbaston Stadium, B5 7QU, on Saturday November 27, Friday December 3 and Saturday December 4, from 11am to 3pm, where volunteers will be waiting to see you.
Brand new or nearly new, unwrapped gifts, books and toys for all ages will be accepted.
You can also donate cash, which will go into a fund held by a charity partner to use to plug gaps or buy specialist toys for children with additional needs. This is the link to make a donation.
“The scale was not limited to the firearms that were imported. These conspirators had contacted criminals interested in prohibited firearms and they intended that further orders could be placed, sourced in the US and sold onto waiting criminal customers at profit.
“It was part of the plan that the transfers would operate over a significant geographical range.”
The three guns that were imported will be destroyed in a forfeiture and destruction order.
Read more about how the NCA disrupted the conspiracy here.
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