A man was caught red-handed with a loaded gun after armed police swooped on him in East London. Naheem Hussain, 50, was caught in a cab on High Road, Epping, in July 2023, with a 9mm Luger pistol and over 50 bullets.
The taxi was stopped in a coordinated police strike, after the suspected handover of a firearm. They found the loaded gun in a holster, which in turn was inside a bag.
Police found he had been given the loaded pistol by Steven Savva. When arrested, Savva denied charges of possession of a firearm and ammunition. He was convicted earlier this month.
Hussain received a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence. Savva was sentenced to five-and-a-half years.
Police Response to Firearm Offences
DI Frazer Low, of the Essex Police Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: “Firearm offences are rare in Essex, but when they do arise, we have highly experienced teams whose sole focus is tackling serious and organised crime and keeping dangerous weapons off our streets. This investigation demonstrates the lengths we will go to in order to identify those involved in supplying firearms, build cases against them and bring them before the courts.
“No matter what level a criminal operates at in our county, they are never out of reach. We will continue to target those involved in organised criminality and do everything possible to prevent firearms from being used to cause harm in our communities.”
The two men were jailed for a total of 12 years. The operation highlights the effectiveness of coordinated police actions in removing illegal firearms from the streets.
