Inside her car were 13 weapons, including two Skorpion sub machine guns, an Uzi sub machine gun, a Glock handgun and nine converted blank firing pistols, as well as 289 rounds of ammunition
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A woman who smuggled military grade weapons and around £500,000 of heroin into the UK in a Peugeot has been jailed for nine years, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
Kasha Sanderson, 40, of Naishcombe Hill, Wick, Bristol, was stopped at Dover on February 24 last year after arriving on a ferry from Calais.
She told officers that she had been in Lyon, France, scattering ashes, but a search of her Irish-registered Peugeot 3008 SUV uncovered two custom-built hides in the footwells, according to the NCA.
Inside were 13 weapons, including two Skorpion sub machine guns, an Uzi sub machine gun, a Glock handgun and nine converted blank firing pistols, as well as 289 rounds of ammunition.
Officers also found 5kg of heroin.
Sanderson, who is unemployed, told officers under questioning that she thought she was smuggling cannabis, but later admitted smuggling firearms, ammunition and Class A drugs, the NCA said.
She was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court on Thursday, according to the agency.
NCA branch commander Rachel Bramley said: “These terrifying weapons and ammunition are out of the hands of extremely dangerous criminals.
“Firearms crime in the UK is among the lowest in the world, but these guns had the potential to cause horrific damage.
“We have seen in recent years the tragic consequences of entirely innocent victims getting caught in the crossfire of criminals with automatic weapons such as Skorpion machine pistols.
“With Sanderson’s jailing, the organised crime group behind this smuggling plot have lost a trusted courier and profits they are unable to plough back into further offences.”