Bermondsey smuggler planned to sell potentially lethal knives for profit as investigators say they would have ended up being used criminal gangs

A trader who tried to smuggle an array of illegal weapons into the UK has been jailed for 21 months.

Kamber Ramadani, 53, of George Row, Bermondsey, told National Crime Agency investigators he planned to sell the flick knives, butterfly knives and other weapons in his shop on the Old Kent Road.

He’d been stopped by Border Force officers carrying out checks on incoming traffic at Dover docks on 12 February 2019, initially telling them he’d been out of the country visiting Croatia and Kosovo.

During a search of his Mercedes officers found 28 different bladed weapons in the boot, and a starter pistol and ammunition in the footwell.

In interview Ramadani told the NCA that he had bought the weapons from a car boot sale in Croatia and the gun was to have been a present for his son.

He was charged with possessing offensive weapons, possessing a knife in a public place and possession of an imitation firearm.

On 7 May 2020 at Canterbury Crown Court he admitted the charges, and yesterday (11 June) the same court sentenced him to 21 months in prison.

NCA Dover Branch Commander Martin Grace said: “These types of weapons are exactly the type we see being used in gang violence on the streets of London and other UK towns and cities every day.

“Ramadani admitted his plan was to sell the weapons for profit and I’ve no doubt that some, if not all, of them would have ended up in criminal hands.

“In securing this conviction we have sent out the message that, working with Border Force and other partners, we are determined to do all we can to prevent illegal weapons reaching our streets, and put those who would bring them here behind bars.”