Eight men involved in the theft of 330,000 rounds of ammunition have been sentenced following a major police investigation spanning multiple regions.
The organised gang stole 66 boxes of .22 calibre bullets from a heavy goods vehicle in Sutton Coldfield on 17 February 2021. The stolen ammunition was then transferred using a second lorry fitted with false number plates and taken to a lock-up in Dewsbury.
Police later traced the second vehicle to West Yorkshire, where officers arrested the suspects and recovered 64 of the missing boxes concealed inside a Fiat Scudo van.
Detective Chief Inspector David Shaw of West Yorkshire Police said the offence posed a serious threat to public safety.
“It is hard to imagine an offence which can pose as great a potential risk to public safety as the theft of live ammunition, especially in the quantities taken in this case,” he said.
“Even though the bullets were of a lower sporting calibre, they could very much have posed a real threat to life.”
He added that the scale of the risk prompted a large multi-force operation to recover the ammunition as quickly as possible, with the vast majority safely seized.
The men were sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on Wednesday:
John Bull, 40, of Batley — Four years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to steal from a motor vehicle and possession of ammunition without a certificate
Anver Valli, 51, of Dewsbury — Four years and nine months, plus a further nine months for breaching a suspended sentence
James Coffey, 47, of Morley — Three years and three months after pleading guilty
Damien Cooper, 34, of no fixed address — Two years and three months
Harrison Pratt, 28, of Batley — Three years and six months
Anas Rasool, 29, of Dewsbury — 16-month suspended sentence
Paul Singh, 45, of Leeds — 12-month suspended sentence
Jamie Patel, 39, of Leeds — 15-month suspended sentence
Police confirmed that further small quantities of ammunition linked to the case have since been recovered in West Yorkshire.
