ONE MAN FROM Newham and another from Bow were members of a crime gang jailed last month after a complex police investigation into the supply of firearms and ammunition in East London and Essex.
The investigation took hundreds of hours of police time over a ten-week period of surveillance and arrest. Seven men were eventually arrested. Five of them appeared in Court last June and pleaded guilty, with the remaining two being put on trial at Southwark Crown Court last November, where they were found guilty of conspiring to supply firearms and ammunition. The men all returned to the Court last month for sentencing.
The East Londoners in the group were:
•Daniel Ngoo, 30, from Newham, who was convicted after trial and sentenced to 16 years in prison for conspiring to sell prohibited weapons and ammunition;
•Damian Meade, 34, of Bow, who was sentenced to five years and four months in prison for selling a prohibited weapon in February 2021.
The Court heard that Ngoo had a leading role in the gun gang. Other members took on specific tasks, such as finding “customers” (criminals who wished to buy or sell weapons) – for which he received a percentage of the sales price. In February last year, Meade sold a .45 calibre revolver to someone in Hackney in a deal set up by another gang member (Aaron John-Baptiste, 33, of Hertfordshire).
Detective Superintendent Simon Moring, from Central Specialist Crime, said, “The convictions and removal of these firearms from circulation shows the continued aim of the Met to protect the public from harm. The Met is committed to tackling and reducing violent crime. Part of this involves relying on our communities to come forward with any information they have about anyone who may be carrying a weapon.”
●Anyone who has any information about unlawful gun ownership or trading is asked to contact the police via 101. Alternatively you can contact Crimestoppers on 0800-555 111 and give information anonymously. Your call could save a life.
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