Olympic starting pistols converted into guns by Tottenham gangster

James Jones, 27, ran a gun conversion business out of a suitcase which was uncovered when officers raided his home last year and arrested him.

The Collingwood Road resident is one of 37 people caught in the Boombox music store sting by Enfield Police, to catch gangsters trading guns, ammunition, weapons, and drugs.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Harwood, who ran the major undercover operation – codenamed Peyzac – said: “It is believed that James Jones had converted many more firearms than actually recovered.

“He specialised in Olympic 38 starting pistols, which he converted to live firing firearms. This particular make of starting pistol is now illegal to possess in the UK.”

Boombox, in Fore Street, was wired with hidden cameras and listening devices, and operated for more than a year with a functioning shop at the front and a backroom for criminals to trade in.

Loaded guns, thousands of pounds of drugs, and ammunition were all brought into the shop, and sold to police.

Among those jailed at Wood Green Crown Court in the Boombox case, Damien McGowan, 33, of Collingwood Road, Tottenham, received a ten-year prison term for conspiracy to supply nine firearms and ammunition.

Kasheef Hardy, 25, of Mount View Court, Green Lanes, was also jailed for ten years for leading a group who sold a gun and ammunition to police in January last year.

And Junior Homer, 21, of Bath Road, Edmonton, was jailed for ten-and-a-half-years for conspiracy to supply firearms, conspiracy to supply drugs, receiving stolen goods, and passing counterfeit currency.

Judge Fraser Morrison, who oversaw all 37 cases, said on Friday at the sentencing of the final two defendants: “I need to say for the record, being involved in the movement of guns is very serious indeed.

“The reason why it is viewed so seriously is the items can dispatch lethal force. There is a lot of violence in this country with guns when people suffer very severe consequences.”