Didsbury man arranged to sell terrifying Skorpion machine gun under EncroChat nickname of 'LouisVuitton.com'

A gun runner who arranged to sell a terrifying Skorpion machine gun has been locked up. Aweis Bashir, from Didsbury, was involved in selling firearms and ammunition, as well as the cocaine and cannabis trades.

The 27-year-old has been locked up for 16 years while his accomplice, 43-year-old Waheed Zaman, was sentenced to 22 years. The pair were caught out following the law enforcement hacking of the EncroChat network, an encrypted communications system often dubbed 'WhatsApp for criminals.'

Police did not recover the machine gun, but they said the pair's messages on EncroChat provided a 'wealth of evidence' to reveal their underworld activities. Bashir, of Parrs Wood Road, used the handle 'Blackskull' but he later changed it to 'LouisVuitton.com', the National Crime Agency said.

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Zaman, from Walsall, was known as 'Naturalmist’. In April 2020 Bashir replied to Zaman saying: “Who you got the scorp off bro.” Zaman then asked him if he'd had 'any joy with sweets, a codename for bullets.

The next day they again talked about obtaining bullets and Zaman asked for ammunition for a Luger pistol, and in further chats Zaman asked for bullets for a Glock and a ’44 spinner’, which is believed to be a revolver. Bashir also had conversations with other Encrochat users about the supply of other firearms and selling Class A drugs.

A keen jet skier, Zaman kept two jet skis near Poole harbour in Dorset and messaged one contact about possibly training “kids to ride out and collect” drugs dropped in the Channel. When he was arrested on April 20, 2021, Bashir had £2,270 in the pocket of his coat.

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