A man has gone on trial accused of being a part of the largest crime network supplying guns to the underworld ever uncovered in Britain's cities - including Bradford.

Kaleem Akhtar, 29, supplied an "assassin's armoury" of handguns, silencers and bullets to gangsters across the UK with the weapons changing hands for £1,500, a court was told.

After one police raid netted 13 guns with silencers, 379 bullets and a bullet-proof vest, within 24 hours Akhtar and the gang allegedly arranged for another consignment to sell on.

The guns, brought from Essex, were found in Bradford, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield and Scotland.

All the weapons were Russian-made Baikal self-loading gas handguns, blank-firing weapons, which can be sold legally for around £100 in some European countries.

But every one had been expertly stripped down and re-barrelled, converting them to fire 9mm bullets, as accurate and powerful as factory-made weapons, the jury was told at Manchester Crown Court. Such was the spread of the weapons - described as "status symbols" among gangsters, the number of shootings in Manchester, which had been going down up to 2006, jumped by 29 per cent in the next two years, the court heard.

In the UK Baikals were first noted by police in 2003. They became a favourite weapon among violent US-style street gangs, the court heard. Police seized 29 Baikal guns supplied by Akhtar and others during operations in Manchester alone, along with 856 9mm bullets, it was alleged.

Another 27 from the same source have turned up across the country, but this is "only a proportion" of the guns distributed by the gang, the jury was told.

"The supply of handguns is worrying enough but the provision of a sound moderator, or silencer for each gun is far more sinister," said Nicholas Clarke QC.

"With these guns stealth comes as standard. These weapons are an assassin's armoury. This conspiracy involved the introduction of large numbers of lethal weapons and ammunition into the criminal underworld. Overall, this operation uncovered the largest network of illegally held weapons ever seen in this country."

They were brought in batches from Essex by Lithuanian brothers Agnus and Edgaras Malcevas to be sold to Mudasser Ali, and then allegedly repackaged and sold on again by Akhtar and others.

Ali, both Malcevas brothers, Asaid Salim, and Michael Peake have already pleaded guilty to either conspiracy to possess firearms or other separate firearms offences.

Akhtar has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to possess firearms and ammunition with intent to enable another to endanger life. It is alleged his job was to distribute the guns to other gangsters, along with silencers and ammunition for a price.

But police had the gang under surveillance since February 2007. It is alleged that month Akhtar supplied two of the guns, silencers and ammunition to Michael Peake, who travelled from Liverpool.

The court heard that two months later police recovered 342 bullets from an address used by Akhtar and on May 4 last year Akhtar was involved in arranging a consignment of 13 of the guns and 379 bullets, recovered from the boot of a Nissan Micra, again taken from Essex to Manchester.

And armed officers finally swooped on the Lithuanian brothers on July 15, finding 13 Baikal guns, 12 silencers and 121 9mm bullets in a sports bag in their BMW.

The trial, expected to last two weeks, continues.

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