Two men from Sussex have been sentenced to over 28 years imprisonment for illegally importing and possessing firearms.

Nicholas Barbary from Crawley and Mark Maynard from Haywards Heath both pleaded guilty to importing, and possessing with intent to endanger life, a self loading Walther P38 pistol, and two reactivated Czechoslovakian Skorpion sub machine guns and ammunition.  All weapons were fully loaded.  

Last Thursday at Lewes Crown Court, Barbary was sentenced to 12 years and Maynard was sentenced to 16 years and two months.  

The pair were arrested by officers from the Sussex Police Serious Organised Crime Unit when their hire van was stopped by armed officers on the slip road at junction 10 of the M23 in Crawley in January.  The weapons were found attached by magnets to the underside of the van.