The Dirty Dozen by Noel 'Razor' Smith

Author:Noel 'Razor' Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John Blake

CHAPTER TWELVE

TOOLING UP

Armed robbery, by its very definition, requires the participants – certainly the robbers – to be armed with a weapon. Their choice of weapon and how they use it generally depends on the disposition of the robber and the availability of weapons. The Dirty Dozen had plenty of access to firearms, which were cheap and plentiful in London in the 1980s and 1990s. Servicemen returning from the Falklands War in the early 1980s brought with them many war souvenirs, including pistols that they had taken from Argentinian prisoners of war. The Argentinians favoured the Browning Hi-Power 9 mm, the M1911 Colt .45, the Sistema Colt Modelo 1927 (a copy of the Colt M1911, built under license in Argentina) and the Ballester-Molina .45. Colt and Browning handguns were already quite popular among UK criminals and were familiar, but the Ballester-Molina .45, which looks very like the Colt, began to show up for sale. As a seven-shot semi-automatic pistol, the Ballester-Molina soon became popular with Yardie gunmen and armed robbers alike.

Another favourite of the armed 1990s criminal was the Brocock air-cartridge pistol. Brococks – ostensibly air pistols – were imported and distributed by a Birmingham-based company. When used legally, the pistols fired .177 pellets using a compressed-air cartridge that is loaded into the gun and were pretty harmless and definitely non-lethal unless fired directly into the eye. But it soon became clear to criminal armourers with an interest in such market innovations that, by fitting these guns with steel sleeves inside the chamber, it would convert the pistol to live and allow it to fire a standard .22 bullet. In the hands of experts, the barrel could be further drilled out in order to allow the gun to fire a more lethal .38 round. By December 2002, the NCIS stated that Brocock pistols accounted for 35 per cent of all guns recovered by police. The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) called for a ‘national ban’ on Brocock air pistols.

Though handguns of all types were available through backstreet armourers, a lot of armed robbers favoured the sawn-off shotgun. As a frightener, the sawn-off could not be beaten. With its shortened barrels, making for a wider spread of shot, the shotgun is a fearsome-looking weapon capable of inflicting great damage. Unlike assassins, hit-men or other brandishers of firearms, armed robbers are not generally looking to actually shoot anyone. As previously mentioned, their weapons have the sole purpose of instilling fear and co-operation and, for this, the sawn-off shotgun fits the bill perfectly. It is a little-known fact that actually sawing the barrels from a shotgun – i.e. shortening the barrels – is a criminal offence punishable by two years’ imprisonment. According to the law, the only reason to shorten the barrels of a gun is for concealment, in order to commit an unlawful offence. If you are arrested with a full-length shotgun without a licence, the chances are fifty-fifty that you will end up in prison, depending on mitigation and circumstances.

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