A MAN has been jailed for 18 years for minding a criminals’ arsenal of lethal weaponry that a judge warned could have “wreaked mayhem”.

The deadly haul included such gangsters’ favourites as a loaded sawn-off shotgun, a replica Uzi sub-machine gun and “dum dum” expanding bullets.

Sentencing Masih Ullah yesterday, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC told him: “This was a quantity of weapons with which gangsters and serious organised criminals could have wreaked mayhem.

“The message will go out, Mr Ullah, that even those who lend themselves to those schemes, with such lethal weapons, will find themselves receiving no mercy from the courts.”

Ullah pleaded guilty to production of cannabis and possession of loaded guns and ammunition after an industrial-scale drugs factory was busted by the police at NMR industrial unit in Abel Street, Wyke, Bradford, on March 9.

Among items found at the cannabis farm were a black balaclava mask, a crossbow, a loaded silver revolver and live rounds of Luger ammunition.

Police also discovered two passport photos of Ullah and his fingerprints.

Prosecutor Chloe Hudson said the drugs and guns were discovered after a warrant was issued for a private debt recovery firm to search the industrial unit because of a large unpaid electricity bill.

The building was fortified by two sets of metal shutters behind locked gates.

Three cars were seen leaving the scene and when the investigators went inside, they found the remnants of a big cannabis factory and a loaded silver revolver and ammunition.

Ullah was arrested the next day walking along Norcroft Street, Listerhills, Bradford, with the keys to a Toyota iQ on him.

He told officers it was parked in Sugden Street, Oakenshaw.

When police raided the car, they found a loaded sawn-off shotgun, a stolen Greater Manchester Police ballistic vest, a loaded Smith and Wesson revolver, an imitation Uzi sub machine gun in two pieces, a single barrel shotgun, bars of gold and silver, 20 boxes of shotgun ammunition, expanding bullets and 50 rounds of hollow point Luger ammunition in a shoebox.

The vehicle also contained two UK passports in Ullah’s name and his fingerprints were found on some of the weapons.

He told the police he was living alone at the industrial unit and the cannabis grow was his.

Ullah’s barrister, Yunus Valli, said he made no use of the firearms and none had been used previously in any specific crime.

He had run up a cannabis debt and was minding the arsenal of weaponry for his drug dealer for a few days.

Ullah, 34, of no fixed address, was a man of previous good character.

He began living at the industrial unit and smoking a lot of cannabis when his car business failed, the court was told.

“He was a vulnerable man taken advantage of by others more criminally sophisticated,” Mr Valli said.

Ullah had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and there was no evidence of any planned criminal intent.

But Judge Durham Hall said the police had disrupted “a very significant criminal operation” that included some of the favourite killing weapons used by criminals.

“It was nothing less than the disruption of a serious criminal operation involving drugs and lethal weapons,” Judge Durham Hall said.

After the case, Detective Constable John Gacquin, of Bradford District Organised Crime Unit, said: “Ullah richly deserves such a lengthy sentence and we hope this case sends a very strong message to those who think it is acceptable to carry such weapons.

“The armaments he possessed, including so called ‘dum dum’ expanding bullets, which are actually banned under the Hague Convention for military use, had the potential to cause enormous damage and loss of life.

“Following the discovery of his cannabis set up, Ullah was quickly identified and arrested within 24 hours, and then convicted following a meticulous investigation.

“The police and the Crown Prosecution Service will not tolerate drug crime in West Yorkshire’s communities and those who take part in it should expect to spend substantial amounts of time behind bars.”