Drug and gun runner is locked up

A GUN RUNNER who arranged to sell a terrifying Skorpion machine gun has been locked up. Aweis Bashir, from Didsbury, was involved in selling firearms and ammunition, as well as the cocaine and cannabis trades.

- ANDREW BARDSLEY

The 27-year-old has been locked up for 16 years while his accomplice, 43-year-old Waheed Zaman, was sentenced to 22 years. The pair were caught out following the law enforcement hacking of the EncroChat network, an encrypted communications system often dubbed 'WhatsApp for criminals.

Police did not recover the machine gun, but they said the pair's messages on EncroChat provided a 'wealth of evidence' to reveal their underworld activities. Bashir, of Parrs Wood Road, used the handle 'Blackskull' but he later changed it to 'Louis Vuitton.com, the National Crime Agency said.

Zaman, from Walsall, was known as 'Naturalmist! In April 2020 Bashir replied to Zaman saying: "Who you got the scorp off bro." Zaman then asked him if he'd had 'any joy with sweets, a codename for bullets.