Three identical triplets have been jailed by a judge in London for possessing a pistol which they planned to give to a dangerous criminal.
Reiss Gabriel, 28, was jailed for 18 years on Friday, 6 September and his brothers Ralston and Reiss were locked up for 14 years each.
On 10 April 2017 undercover officers in Tottenham, north London, spotted a man placing a holdall in the back of a taxi which was stopped by armed police.
Inside the holdall police found an Uzi sub-machine gun, with a silencer and ammunition, and a self-loading pistol.
Later that month Aron Thomas, 32, was arrested in a car with a bag containing a revolver. He was charged with two counts of conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Thomas, who was on licence at the time after being jailed for 11 years in 2010 for firing a gun into a crowd of people outside Wood Green tube station, was jailed for life.
After Thomas and three other men were convicted police carried out forensic tests on the pistol which found DNA on it which was linked to the Gabriel brothers.
The DNA recovered was not attributable to just one of the triplets, so officers were required to carry out extensive inquiries to identify which of them was complicit.
Officers were able to give evidence that all three Gabriel brothers were involved and they were convicted last month and sentenced this week.
Detective Chief Inspector Driss Hayoukane said: “I am proud of the dedication my officers…showed in tracking down and linking the Gabriel triplets to this case. The trio tried to exploit their identical DNA and appearance to try and evade the consequences of their actions, but the hard work of the investigation team prevented their attempts. Through their actions in this case, these men have thrown away promising careers and futures.”