Luton man jailed 3 years for brandishing firearm

Faeem Ilyas, 25, of Dunstable Road, was found guilty of possession of an imitation firearm and a prohibited weapon, as well as racially aggravated common assault.

On July 18 last year, Ilyas called police after claiming he had been assaulted outside his house. However, officers found that Ilyas was not the victim in this case, and that he had instigated an argument with another man.

The man was walking up and down the street talking on the phone, when Ilyas verbally abused him and used racist language. Following the argument, Ilyas threatened the man with a black handgun.

On searching Ilyas’ house, officers seized two black BB handguns, one black torch Taser, a small bag of cocaine and a small bag of cannabis that was hidden in a cigarette pack. Ilyas was arrested and charged.

Investigating officer Lee Fassam said: “The victim told us that he was genuinely in fear for his life thinking that he might be shot. Thankfully the situation did not escalate as he walked away from the situation and called police.

“Violence is never the answer to a dispute, and it’s not acceptable to use violence and weapons to try and intimidate others. I hope the sentence received by Ilyas goes some way to reassuring the public that we won’t tolerate the use of weapons in our county, and we have a dedicated team who tackle gun criminality.”