A Kempston teenager was turned-in to the police by his parents after his mother found a gun in his wardrobe.
Umar Javid’s mother was cleaning the 19-year-old’s room when she discovered a revolver that had been converted to fire real ammunition.
Javid, 19, who claimed he only had the gun for a day, was jailed for five years at Luton crown court on Monday, June 8, 2020, by a judge who commended his parents’ actions.
Prosecutor Robin Miric said: “On April 13 this year his mother was cleaning his room and found a firearm in the bedroom wardrobe. She called her husband and they called the police.”
When it was examined the police found the BBM Olympic had been adapted to fire live rounds. It had three rounds of ammunition and one was ready to fire, said the prosecutor.
Ten months earlier, on June 21 last year, Javid had been arrested when the police were called to Bassett Road in Leighton Buzzard.
There were four males in a Seat Toledo car with Javid in the front passenger seat. He ran off but was caught.
Cling film packages fell from him and they were found to contain 18.09g of cocaine and 5.26 grams of heroin.
He had a small amount of cannabis on him. Javid, of Hastings Road, Kempston appeared for sentence on a video link from Bedford prison.
He had pleaded guilty on an earlier occasion to possessing a firearm and ammunition, two charges of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply and possessing cannabis. Defending, Shelley Griffith said: “He had lost £1,000 to £2,000 to drug dealers.
“They forced the firearm onto him to pay off the drug debt. He said he only had it for a day. His mother cleaned his room every other day and she would have found it had it been there longer.
“He is 19 and immature and has been brought up in a traditional Pakistani family.”
Jailing him, Judge Barbara Mensah said: “This was a genuine firearm with ammunition and was capable of being fired. You said you only had it for a day.
“Even if I accept what you say a day is too long. The seriousness of having firearms and ammuntion cannot be underestimated.
“They terrorise and intimidate people, usually in association with drugs.
“Drug dealing is also a pernicious activity. It leads to addiction and crime.”
The judge added: “You come from a good family – your parents are to be commended for reporting the matter to the police.“
