Brothers jailed after police discover arsenal of weapons
Two brothers have been jailed, and guns and ammunition seized following a police raid.
Azim and Noweed Hussain were sentenced to a combined total of 10 years in prison at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, with 34-year-old Azim jailed for seven years and 39-year-old Noweed for three years.
Officers from West Midlands Police raided the home of the brothers in Mansell Road, Small Heath at 2.30am on July 16 last year.
The armed officers searched the house and, in an outbuilding attached to the house, they found two bags.
In an Armani pouch, they found a 9mm self-loading handgun, with a bullet loaded into the barrel and another bullet in the magazine.
Next to this pouch was a Nike sports bag containing a shortened shotgun in three parts, an M3 0.45 calibre submachine gun and magazine, and a Webley 0.38 calibre revolver.
Also in the bag was a .45 calibre bullet, a shotgun under-grip, 35 shotgun cartridges, 15 9mm cartridge cases re-fitted with ball bearings, two 9mm cartridges and a .45 calibre cartridge.
At an earlier appearance at Birmingham Crown Court, Azim pleaded guilty to six counts of possession of firearms and ammunition and said he was looking after the guns for someone else who he would not name.
Azim attempted to take all responsibility and said that his brother Noweed was entirely innocent, although evidence presented showed this not to be true.
Bodyworn video and expert witnesses showed that while Azim delayed some of the officers at the front door, Noweed ran out the back and put the guns and ammunition in the outbuilding.
He pleaded not guilty to possession of the firearms and ammunition, but after a trial at Birmingham Crown Court, a jury unanimously found him guilty.
Detective Constable Darren Wilkie, from the Force Priorities Team in Force CID, was the investigating officer. He said: “You do not need to be a weapons expert to understand the damage a submachine gun - made for killing in World War Two - could do on the busy streets of Birmingham.
“The fact that the handgun was loaded with a real bullet in the barrel shows that they were ready for use, either by Azim and Noweed or other people.
“I believe that our investigation has saved lives.
“We may never know what the brothers were planning but I suspect these were tools to commit serious crime.
“Thanks to the information we received and the action we took, four guns and 56 bullets are now in our secure store ready to be destroyed.”
