Six sentenced after armed strike

Amar Murtaza

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Six men have been jailed for a total of over 50 years after a covert police operation led to the recovery of loaded guns.

Their arrests were carried out by armed officers when they were caught travelling to Rochdale in a convoy of three cars with the guns in their possession.

Amar Murtaza, 33, of Silverhill Road, Bradford was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was found guilty following a trial at Manchester Crown Court, Crown Square in May 2011 of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and possession of ammunition with intent to endanger life.

Four men pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, possession of ammunition with intent to endanger life, possession of firearms by people previously convicted of crime and possession of ammunition by persons previously convicted of crime. They are:

Atiq Arif, 36, of Lytton Avenue, Cheetham Hill, sentenced to 12-and-a-half years in prison.

Peter Maguire, 42, of New Islington, Ancoats, sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Daryl Maguire, 24, of Windsor Avenue, Prestwich , sentenced to five years in prison.

Steven Michael Yates, 28, of no fixed address, sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison

Perry Curtis, 22, of Antares Avenue, Lower Broughton also pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and possession of ammunition with intent to endanger life. He was sentenced to five years in prison.

Titan, the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit was investigating members of the gang when on Monday 8 November 2010 it became apparent they were armed and intent on carrying out a criminal act in Rochdale.

The jury during the trial heard that their intention was to rob a Rochdale drug dealer and had the loaded guns with them to help them carry it out.

Arif and Peter Maguire, who both have previous convictions for firearms offences, were under police surveillance. Arif was seen driving a Ford Fiesta and met up with other members of the gang at an address in Prestwich.

Later that evening, the Fiesta was seen to leave the Prestwich address in convoy with another Fiesta and a Ford Focus heading in the direction of Rochdale.

Just after 9.30pm the three cars were stopped by armed GMP officers on Roch Mills Crescent, Rochdale.

A machete, loaded sawn off shotgun and loaded gas powered pistol were recovered from one of the Fiestas. Yates was wearing a balaclava when arrested and further balaclavas were also found in the cars.

Analysis later found that the shotgun contained two cartridges. It was a 12 gauge, double-barrelled gun, in full working order.

The handgun was confirmed to be a loaded Walther CP88 gas powered air pistol capable of causing serious injury or death.

Detective Inspector Michael Fraser of Titan NW ROCU said: "At the time it was not known who the crime gang were targeting but it was abundantly clear that they posed a significant risk to the community of Rochdale and had to be stopped.

"The courage of the officers to follow a violent crime gang they know to be armed is worthy of recognition. None of my surveillance team was armed and we received a fantastic response from armed colleagues within GMP to assist spontaneously in apprehending these dangerous people.

"The result underlines just how seriously we take community led intelligence and will do all we can to eradicate serious and organised crime within the North West."