Two gangland figures have admitted their involvement in organised crime after being caught with a handgun and criminal cash during a police operation near the Hilton hotel in Glasgow. Jason Britton, 34, from Manchester, and Cade Johnson, 28, from Bury, pled guilty to charges linked to organised crime at Glasgow High Court on Monday.
Police sting near Hilton hotel
Police captured Britton in possession of a Glock-styled handgun on December 2 last year. The court heard Britton had a converted Zoraki model 917-B self-loading pistol on Newton Street, along with modified .380 auto bullets, and had acquired and possessed criminal property worth £10,285.
Johnson, who had previously been jailed over a firearms plot involving Royal Mail disguises, admitted his part in the activities of a Manchester-based criminal gang operating in Scotland.
Previous convictions
Britton was sentenced to five years and 10 months in 2015 after being part of an armed gang that robbed £230,000 worth of high-end jewellery from the Rox store in Glasgow's Argyll Arcade. The gang was caught when two accomplices were seen wearing stolen watches.
In court on Tuesday, Johnson admitted to a separate indictment of breaching a serious crime prevention order granted in December 2019, by entering Scotland without telling police. The order followed his five-year and nine-month sentence in 2019 for his part in a firearms plot in Glasgow.
Firearms plot uncovered
Johnson and two others were caught after officers stopped a Mercedes car and found a fake parcel designed to conceal a pistol, addressed to a vets' practice in the city's Forge Retail Park. Police also discovered a balaclava, £1,000 of counterfeit notes, and two full cans of petrol in the vehicle.
A raid on an Airbnb the gang rented in the Parkhead area recovered a Luger pistol, ammunition, parts of a Glock pistol, and Royal Mail uniforms. Johnson featured on the indictment Britton pled guilty to, but his not guilty pleas to those charges were accepted by the Crown, including the £10,285 criminal money charge and having counterfeit notes.
Britton's not guilty charges on the indictment included further firearm and ammunition charges, having counterfeit notes, possession of cannabis, and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Marcus Taylor, 28, of Salford, who also featured on the £10,285 criminal money charge and counterfeit cash allegation, had his not guilty pleas accepted by the Crown.
The pair will be sentenced in November pending background reports and were remanded in custody.
