“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,” Detective Sergeant Jonathan Roberts said.
A 26-year-old was sentenced on Thursday to three years imprisonment for printing a 3D gun.
It is believed to be the first conviction and sentencing in the UK for manufacturing a firearm with a 3D printer, the Metropolitan police 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,” Detective Sergeant Jonathan Roberts said.
Tendai Muswere pleaded guilty to the charge of printing the gun at London's Southwark Crown Court in June.
Officers had searched Muswere's home using a drugs warrant in October 2017 and found remnants of a 3D printed firearm "capable of firing a lethal shot", police said.
Muswere claimed he did not know it was capable of firing but had watched videos about how to print a 3D gun that fires ammunition.
He told police that he was printing the gun for a university film project.
"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," Roberts said.
"We know that Muswere was planning to line the printed firearms with steel tubes in order to make a barrel capable of firing.”
Police found more parts of a 3D printed gun during a second raid on Muswere's home in February 2018.
