THE ringleader of a Black Country gang who imported blank-firing pistols before converting them into deadly weapons has been handed a 26-year jail term.

Officers from West Midlands Police Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) launched an investigation on August 3, 2016, when two semi-automatic handguns were recovered in Kingswinford during a covert operation.

The guns – handed over in a shoe box in a supermarket car park – were discovered to be converted blank-firers.

The men involved in the transfer were all caught on police surveillance and jailed for a total of 45 years, including Sunny Dhatt – described as a “go-to" man for criminal firearms – who was handed an 18-year sentence.

A painstaking review of thousands of lines of mobile phone data revealed Carlington Grant, of Johnson Street in Wolverhampton, was the head of the firearms supply network.

The father-of-nine – aka Mad Dog – and his partner Khiana Lewis, of Columbus Gardens in Brierley Hill, were found to have funded the purchase of 43 pistols, plus 1,160 blank cartridges, from a firm based in Calais before selling them on to criminals in their converted state.

Serial numbers on the guns found in Kingswinford led officers to the firm in France - where such firearms can be legally bought – which had despatched them as part of a larger shipment just days earlier to an address in Cornwall.

Grant and Lewis made four trips to Cornwall to collect the guns before storing and converting them at a unit on the Black Lake Industrial Estate in West Bromwich.

It’s understood 41-year-old Grant passed two converted guns to Sunny Dhatt during a meeting arranged by middleman Jermaine Dornan, from Temple Street in Bilston, before the lethal consignment was intercepted by police.

West Midlands Police officers raided the industrial unit in April last year, with a search uncovering two firearms hidden under car bonnets plus a large bag of ammunition in various stages of conversion. Lewis’ fingerprints were found on the ammunition packaging.

And in May last year, another of Grant’s converted pistols was dropped during an armed raid on a carpet shop in Tyburn Road, Erdington.

Grant had tried to remove the serial number but ballistic scientists from the National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS) were able to apply a chemical technique to recover the number which was then matched to an order from France that had been collected by Grant and Lewis.

Both Grant and Dornan were arrested during simultaneous armed police raids on December 23 last year, while Lewis was detained on January 16 at Gatwick Airport following a holiday to Jamaica.

A stash of drugs was recovered from Dornan’s flat. He initially claimed it was in preparation for his 30th birthday party, but later admitted drug dealing.

At court, Grant said he simply joined Lewis on day trips to Cornwall and believed she was collecting beauty products for an internet business.

But Lewis’ defence barrister rubbished his claim saying Grant spent a matter of minutes in Cornwall on each visit and hardly had enough time to buy a Cornish pasty, let alone go to the seaside, and was instead visiting purely to collect the guns.

Following a 21-day trial at Birmingham Crown Court last month, a jury found Grant, Lewis, aged 34, and 30-year-old Dornan guilty of conspiring to sell prohibited weapons and ammunition.

And on Wednesday (September 5) they were jailed for 17 years and nine years respectively.

Dornan was also sentenced for possession with intent to supply cannabis.

Following the sentencing, ROCU Detective Constable Rory Juss said: “Grant and Lewis paid £7,370 for 43 blank-firing guns and 1160 blank-firing cartridges… in their converted state they would have been worth up to £150,000 on the black market.

“They used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle of luxury cars and regular trips abroad - but their lethal business came crashing down after we intercepted two of their converted pistols.

“They went to significant lengths to mask their movements and dealings: Lewis bought the guns using a bank account in her mother’s name, they rented hire cars and used ‘burner’ phones to hide their criminality.

“However, through some exhaustive investigative work we managed to trace the importation of the guns, track Grant and Lewis to the Cornish collection point, found their conversion unit and recovered some of the guns.

“This is a fantastic result not just for West Midlands Police but for the communities we serve: taking someone like Mr Grant off the streets has stopped a significant supply line of guns destined for criminals operating in the West Midlands and beyond."

Blank-firing pistols are legal to buy and sell on the continent but banned in the UK due to tighter firearms legislation.

Det Con Juss added: “The firm in Calais abdicated any responsibility for selling firearms to overseas customers, instead putting the onus on the customer to ensure they are acting in accordance with firearms legislation in their own country.

“However, ignorance is no defence and so buying these guns online can have serious consequences for unwitting consumers including arrest, a criminal record, imprisonment and or a fine."

Experts from NABIS - which assists UK police forces with gun crime investigations - helped on the case.

Chief Scientist Martin Parker said: “One of our experts gave evidence during this court case and we are aware of the conversion method used in relation to the firearms and ammunition. We will be notifying West Midlands Police of any future recoveries."