A Hertfordshire teenager who attempted to smuggle a blank-firing handgun into Britain whilst operating a cannabis production operation and maintaining three converted antique firearms has been imprisoned for more than six years.
Henri Nikolli, 19, from Welwyn Garden City, received a sentence of six years and three months at St Albans Crown Court on Monday after pleading guilty in January to multiple firearms, ammunition and drug offences.
The Organised Crime Partnership—a joint unit operated by the National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police—arrested Nikolli outside a Potters Bar family residence on 10 April last year following an investigation triggered by US Homeland Security’s interception of a prohibited weapon bound for Britain.
The blank-firing handgun had been disguised as a “canine training kit” during shipment from America, though authorities identified the true nature of the package before it reached UK shores.
Officers discovered three antique firearms Nikolli had modified to fire modern ammunition inside the Potters Bar property, alongside an operational cannabis cultivation facility. Subsequent searches of his home and vehicle uncovered additional ammunition, multiple knives, numerous mobile phones, several SIM cards and a notebook detailing procedures for converting antique firearms and manufacturing bullets.
Videos recovered from his electronic devices showed firearms being test-fired in public locations, according to prosecutors, demonstrating what they characterised as a “flagrant disregard for the safety of others.”
Andrew Tickner, senior investigating officer from the OCP, stated: “Nikolli was clearly a sophisticated criminal who had amassed an arsenal of dangerous weapons to facilitate his drugs trade. Despite already owning three viable antique firearms he sought to import another gun which – if he was successful – could have done significant damage.”
Giorgina Venturella, specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, described the defendant as “a teenage criminal who developed a keen interest in firearms” and an “organised criminal deeply entrenched in a lawless lifestyle.”
She added: “The evidence in this case painted a picture of an organised criminal deeply entrenched in a lawless lifestyle and involved in the production and sale of cannabis. Firearms, ammunition and knives had become everyday commodities used by Nikolli in his criminal trade, posing an evident danger to local communities.”
In January, Nikolli entered guilty pleas to charges including producing and supplying class B drugs, possessing firearms, attempting to possess a prohibited weapon, possessing ammunition without proper certification, carrying a loaded shotgun in public and having firearms and ammunition in public places.
