A ‘gun runner’, who police discovered ordered a pistol to an address in Elephant and Castle, has been jailed for seven years.
The court heard that Givaunni Macdonna, 28, ordered the self-loading 9mm, Brazilian Taurus Arms pistol and 352g of cannabis from Florida, US.
Police caught him by intercepting the package and replacing the contents with a listening device, painstakingly re-packaging the parcel to avoid alerting suspicion.
After collecting the parcel from Elephant and Castle, he opened it back at his Greenwich home, only to find the contents missing.
Ten minutes later, at 6.21pm he threw the package in undergrowth at Winns Common and was arrested by Organised Crime Partnership (OCP) officers.
Macdonna was convicted by a jury at Woolwich Crown Court of importation of a firearm, attempted possession of a firearm, attempted possession of ammunition and importation of drugs and was jailed on Friday (23 April) .
Andy Tickner, of the OCP said: “The OCP’s core mission is to protect the public and protect London from organised crime groups and offenders such as Givaunni Macdonna.
“I’ve no doubt that if we and Border Force had not removed that weapon it would now be somewhere on our streets posing a huge threat.”
In custody, Macdonna claimed he thought the package was “just weed” and was collecting it for a drug dealer named ‘Ron’ to whom he owed debts.
But a forensic investigation uncovered WhatsApp messages where Macdonna discussed the weapon’s transit with an unidentified accomplice.
The OCP works in partnership with international law enforcement to pursue those who profit from organised crime.
Gun crime is rare in the UK. According to House of Commons firearm statistics, in the year preceding 31 March 2020, just 30 homicides were by shooting.