Petrol station worker jailed as guns stash found

A petrol station worker has been jailed after police said they found a collection of weapons, including a loaded revolver and a sawn-off shotgun in a car near the forecourt.

Armed police officers raided the Gulf petrol station in Saltley, Birmingham, and uncovered several weapons and rounds of ammunition concealed around the site, West Midlands Police said.

Forensic tests linked 33-year-old Sultan Arif, from Clent Hill Drive in Rowley Regis, to the revolver after the raid on 15 January 2020.

Arif admitted possession of the firearm and ammunition and at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday and was sentenced to six years in prison.

During the raid officers said they were led to a black Vauxhall Vectra parked next to the forecourt. Inside the boot, hidden in a black rucksack, they found a sawn-off shotgun loaded with two live cartridges.

Police also found another live shotgun cartridge and five spent cartridges from the vehicle.

A separate search of the forecourt revealed a loaded revolver hidden in a bag between two water butts which had four rounds of ammunition in it.

Officers also discovered extra shotgun cartridges concealed on the site, as well as a stun gun hidden inside a fire extinguisher box.

West Midlands Police said Arif was already known to officers and had previously been convicted of possessing a sawn-off shotgun and ammunition.

The force said they believed he had links to gangs in the Alum Rock and Washwood Heath areas of Birmingham.

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