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A kingpin who ran one of the UK's biggest-ever gun-running gangs has lost a high court bid to appeal against his conviction. Omar Malik was at the head of a plot which flooded the country with drugs and weapons .

A ledger kept by Malik, who was said to go by the handle 'payyabills' on the encrypted messaging app EncroChat , revealed that over a five month period, his Manchester-based outfit sold up to £70m-worth of drugs. They also supplied organised crime gangs across the country with deadly weapons, including Skorpion sub-machine guns and Grand Power pistols.

A jury heard the gang acquired 49 Grand Power pistols for £147,000 and offered them for sale for between £5,000 and £8,000 each. They also got hold of 52 Skorpion machine guns. By May 2020 at least 48 were sol

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