A British arms broker has been jailed for 16 years for brokering illegal weapons deals involving fighter jets, missiles and assault rifles destined for conflict zones including Libya, Sudan and South Sudan.
David Greenhalgh, 68, was sentenced on Wednesday at Southwark Crown Court in London after being convicted of 10 counts relating to the unlicensed supply of arms between 2009 and 2016.
His Greek business associate, Christos Farmakis, 48, was also sentenced to 16 years after being convicted of nine similar offences. Farmakis was tried and sentenced in his absence after fleeing the UK while on bail.
The pair acted as middlemen in deals involving former Soviet fighter jets, surface-to-air missile systems, anti-tank missiles, AK-47 rifles, battle tanks and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition.
UK authorities said none of the deals had the licences required under British export-control laws, with some transactions worth tens of millions of pounds.
Prosecutors said one of the deals involved the sale of a former Ukrainian S-125 Pechora surface-to-air missile system to South Sudan.
At the time of the transaction, South Sudan was still formally part of Sudan and was therefore subject to a British arms embargo, according to prosecutors.
The pair also arranged deals involving weapons destined for Iran, Iraq and Syria, while documents uncovered during the investigation showed plans to supply fighter jets and other weapons to Libya following the 2011 Arab Spring.
Judge Sally-Ann Hales said the men repeatedly sought to circumvent British arms-export restrictions for significant financial gain.
HM Revenue & Customs said Greenhalgh used companies registered in several countries to help route the transactions and attempted to evade British sanctions and trade controls.
Investigators also found that forged end-user certificates were used to conceal the intended destinations of some weapons.
HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service said Greenhalgh knowingly and repeatedly circumvented export controls, including by forging documents and routing deals through overseas companies.
Farmakis was exposed after using his work email at the government-funded Greater London Enterprise to arrange private arms deals. An email sent through the account led investigators to documents detailing plans to sell fighter jets and other weapons to Libya.
Both men were convicted in June before being sentenced on Wednesday.
HMRC said it was working with international partners to locate Farmakis and bring him to the UK to serve his sentence.
