A man caught trying to buy a gun online from the US has been jailed for five years after being snared in a joint police operation.
David Mitchell spent more than £2,000 of cryptocurrency on a Glock 9mm gun with magazine, silencer and 150 rounds of 9mm ammunition which he wanted to be sent to his business address in Dunfermline, Fife.
However, the gun was seized at the point of exit from the States and law enforcement agencies on both sides of the Atlantic decided to send a fake parcel known as a “placebo” to his work in Pitreavie Court instead of an actual firearm to ensure public safety.
After Mitchell signed for the delivery, specialist officers carried out surveillance until the software engineer drove home in his green Skoda with the partially opened package in the boot of the vehicle.
When Mitchell arrived, officers assessed the scene and minutes later they entered with a search warrant to find the package opened in the kitchen, beside some household tools, and the placebo found underneath a couch in his living room.
He offered no information on his motivations during questioning and appeared at court in Scotland on September 21 while the incident was reported to US Homeland Security.
The 48-year-old, from Damside in Edinburgh, admitted three firearms offences when he appeared at the city’s high court last month.
He returned to the court on Monday, when he was handed the five-year jail term.
Passing sentence, judge Lord Pentland said: “It appears that you formed a plan to obtain these items by carrying out research on the dark web and then proceeding to order them for delivery to this country from the United States.
“Fortunately, due to cooperation between the police forces of both countries, your plan was thwarted and the items were intercepted.
“It appears that your decision to acquire the gun and the other items arose from an obsessive preoccupation on your part with exploring whether it was possible to do so by making use of the dark web.
“You claim that you had no intention of causing harm to anyone but the fact remains that you went to considerable lengths to get hold of a potentially lethal weapon and ammunition.
“You must have appreciated that this was unlawful. For this conduct you must be punished.”
The court heard Mitchell has a history of depression and other behavioural difficulties.
Defence QC John Scott said he had been described as a valued and dependable employee and has no previous convictions.
But the exact reason behind why Mitchell wanted a gun and a silencer, which ballistic experts later confirmed did not actually fit the Glock in question, remains unknown.
US officials at Newark Airport, New Jersey, intercepted the firearm and associated equipment before it was sent to Scotland, and informed the National Crime Agency and Police Scotland, which led to the Organised Crime Partnership (Scotland)’s involvement.
Detective Chief Superintendent Gerry McLean, who heads Police Scotland’s organised crime and counter-terrorism unit, praised the work of the OCP(S) which is based at the Scottish Crime Campus in Gartcosh, North Lanarkshire.
He said: “David Mitchell never offered any information that would have allowed us to better understand what his motivation was to securing a firearm.
“Our priorities are public safety and trying to understand what factors are, is it part of a wider network of individuals.
“For a number of years now we’ve been working in that multi-agency environment, we’ve talked about collaboration and partnerships.
“But actually where the crime campus and the ethos of the campus have both been demonstrated by Police Scotland is a subtle shift into integration.
“Having that blend and mix towards what is a shared ambition and aspiration to tackle organised crime, whether it sits here in Scotland or impacts on Scotland, I think is the real benefit that comes from it.”
