Three people sentenced after cops find weapons stashed in a wardrobe

Three people have been found guilty of possession of a firearm after cops found a shotgun in a wardrobe during a weapons raid.

Ange Ballo, 27, of Two Mile Ash, Milton Keynes, a 17-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy were sentenced on Monday for firearm offences and supplying cocaine, heroin and cannabis.

On January 28 a search warrant was carried out at a residential address in Southwark where a sawn-off shotgun was found hidden inside a wardrobe.

Officers arrested the teenage girl and charged her with firearms offences then arrested the teenage boy and Ballo on on suspicion of supplying the firearm.

Ballo was sentenced to life imprisonment, to serve a minimum of seven years and six months for conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent.

He was also sentenced to six-and-a-half years’ imprisonment for two counts of conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin, to be served concurrently.

The 17-year-old girl was sentenced to three years youth rehabilitation for the offence, as well as two counts of conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin.

The 16-year-old boy from Southwark was sentenced to 18 months youth rehabilitation for the offence and possession with intent to supply Class A drugs and being concerned with the supply of cannabis.

Detective inspector Vicky Sullivan, from Specialist Crime, said: “This was a complex investigation, with further arrests of all those involved for drugs offences.

“The juvenile defendants claimed that they had been trafficked in order to escape justice; these claims required substantial enquiries and proved to be false. However, extensive evidence of all their involvement in county lines activity was obtained and proven in court.”