Tendai Muswere of Tachbrook Street, was sentenced this week to three years imprisonment in what is believed to be the first conviction and sentencing in the UK for manufacturing a firearm using a 3D printer.
The investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Jonathan Roberts, who led the investigation, said: “I hope that today’s sentencing sends a very clear and powerful message that we will prosecute anyone who thinks that they can get away with being in possession of, or manufacturing a firearm, in London.”
On Wednesday, 19 June at Southwark Crown Court, Tendai Muswere, 26 (24.04.93), of Tachbrook Street, SW1, pleaded guilty to a charge of manufacturing a firearm, namely a 3D printed gun.
Officers executed a drugs warrant at Muswere’s home in October 2017 and during the course of the operation found components of a 3D printed gun, capable of firing a lethal shot. Muswere, who does not hold a firearms licence, told officers that he was printing the firearm for a university project. He claimed not to be aware that the components he had made were capable of firing. He later refused to comment on what his film project was about.
A search of his internet search history revealed that he had viewed videos demonstrating how to use a 3D printer to manufacture firearms which fired live ammunition. The officers also discovered cannabis plants and evidence of cannabis cultivation.
A second raid on Muswere’s home in February 2018 resulted in the discovery of further components of a 3D printed gun.
DS Jonathan Roberts continues: “Muswere claimed that he was printing the firearms for a ‘dystopian’ university film project but he has not explained why he included the component parts necessary to make a lethal barrelled weapon. We know that Muswere was planning to line the printed firearms with steel tubes in order to make a barrel capable of firing.”
