Detectives have revealed how they discovered a temporary factory that produced deadly “assassination kits” for organized crime groups.
Armed police arrested Ronald Knowles when they tried to burn “treasure” evidence in the back garden of Alfreton, Derbyshire.
The 64-year-old is now waiting for the sentence, converting at least 33 copies of the pistol and making enough bullets to replace it with 80 sets of silencers and latex gloves.
The kits were sold by the infamous “Drug General” known as Gary Hardy, who sold them at his home in Ravenshead, Nottinghamshire.
Ronald Knowles and Gary Hardy to be sentenced for serious gun crime [Nottinghamshire Police]
The temporary factory is part of an investigation into Hardy by Nottinghamshire Police and the East Midlands Special Operations Department (EMSOU).
The troops have released details of it after Hardy’s trial.
Det Ch Insp Mark Adas said officials moved in and arrested after stopping a van in Meadham, Leicestershire in August 2023.
They grabbed a box containing four “fatal” self-loaded pistols, each packed separately with a silencer, blue nitrogen gloves and ten rounds of live ammunition.
“The bullets have changed from blank shooting to living. If discharged, they will effectively expand the impact,” he said.
“These are all deadly assassination kits. I call them because they are individually packaged. The guns are designed to kill. It’s very worrying.”
When armed men moved into Knowles Gardens on Milford Avenue, drone footage caught the moment he lifted from the outbuilding and was handcuffed in front of the campfire.
Det Ch Insp Adas said the outbuilding contains lathes and exercises, and the weapon collector is used to build mufflers and convert pistols and ammunition.
Police also caught throwing stars, machetes, cross and air weapons, and nearly 1,000 rounds.
“With the amount of ammunition we discovered, it’s our belief that it’s destined to be converted and can also be converted around 80 assassination kits,” Det Ch Insp Adas said.
“This is an important discovery for us. It is the largest gun manufacturing industry I have ever seen and, as far as I know, one of the largest gun manufacturing industries we have seen in the East Midlands, if not more extensive”.
Det Ch Insp Mark Adas leads the investigation [BBC]
Knowles pleaded guilty to serious gun crimes and can now report after the convictions of Hardy and two other men by Nottingham Crown Court.
Det Ch Insp Adas said Hardy, 61, was “very, very dangerous” and led an operation to provide deadly weapons to organized crime groups in the West Midlands and Essex.
“He lives in a good address in Ravenshead, his car is good, he lives a good lifestyle, but as far as we know, he doesn’t have any real form of employment.”
“Because we remove this action, we will never know the true scale of how many lives saved, but that’s important”.
Gary Hardy was sentenced to 20 years in prison in September 2008 at a major drug trial at Nottingham Crown Court, a sentence that first made headlines, and the sentence must be guarded by armed police.
The jury heard that Hardy was one of three “drug generals” in Nottinghamshire and provided heroin and amphetamine to dealers of Kirkby-In-Ashfield and Sutton-In-Ashfield.
As part of a range of businesses, he owns a fleet of luxury cars and has over 40 properties, making his income seem legal.
Hardy’s heroin supplies were smuggled into the UK in van tires, and the profits were distributed to another Nottinghamshire “drug general” John Dawes and his brother Robert, the court heard.
Robert Dawes, an international drug trafficker who was eventually arrested in Spain and is now sentenced to jail in the Netherlands for ordering the killer to kill an innocent teacher.
Now, Hardy will be sentenced again on the date when he was convicted of Ronald Knowles and two other convicted gun crimes last month at Nottingham Crown Court.
One of the men was Jason Hill, a 23-year-old drug dealer.
Hill has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the “brutally and cold-blooded” murder of Owen Faircloough, who found the body in his chest in June 2023.
Six days after discovery, officers searched Hill’s back garden on Derby Road in Risley and found a hidden safe containing two guns, two mufflers and two dozen 9mm bullets.
Nottinghamshire police believe Hill obtained the weapons from Stephen Houston, 64, who lives in Colee, Warwickshire.
Houston is offering Hardy’s assassination kit to criminal underworld members, they said.
Knowles, Hardy, Houston and Hill will all be sentenced for possessing guns that intend to endanger their lives.
Knowles, Hardy and Houston will also be sentenced for conspiring to convert a blank gun into a firearm and conspiring to sell or transfer the gun.
Follow BBC Derby Facebookexist x,or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected] Or by WhatsApp On 0808 100 2210.
Related Internet links
