A British businessman and his Greek associate have been found guilty of brokering illegal weapons sales worth tens of millions of pounds to warlords across Africa and the Middle East.
David Greenhalgh, 68, from Croydon in south London, and Christos Farmakis, 48, a Greek citizen, were found guilty at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday of facilitating black market arms deals to Libya, Sudan and South Sudan.
The illicit operation ran from 2009 to 2016, where the pair acted as intermediaries supplying military hardware to authoritarian regimes under the guise of Greenhalgh's aviation business.
Farmakis absconded from the UK after being released on bail during court proceedings, and was tried in his absence - with both defendants now facing sentencing on July 22.
The weapons catalogue offered by the duo included Russian fighter jets and helicopter gunships, alongside tens of thousands of AK-47 assault rifles, ammunition, bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank guided missiles.
One lucrative transaction involved a Ukrainian air defence missile system valued at £41 million, brokered between 2009 and 2011.
Prosecutor Edmund Burge KC told the court these arms were supplied "with no paperwork required and no licence from the UK applied for or obtained".
The defendants obtained weapons stockpiles from Ukraine, Belarus, Serbia and the Czech Republic, before selling them at inflated prices to desperate nations unable to go through legitimate channels.
The weapons catalogue included tens of thousands of AK-47 assault rifles, ammunition, bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank guided missiles
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Farmakis exploited his position as an adviser to Greater London Enterprise, a government-funded quango, using what ought to have been a respectable role as cover for his criminal activities.
Greenhalgh's personal life attracted considerable media attention in Africa through his relationship with Shanita Namuyimbwa - a Ugandan socialite known publicly as "Bad Black".
Namuyimbwa, now 36, was apprehended in Thailand while fleeing authorities, and received a four-year prison sentence in Uganda for embezzling £2.5 million from Greenhalgh's aviation business.
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The divorced father of two later remarried and had a child in 2017 with another Ugandan partner, Parks Dee Laker.
Prosecutor Edmund Burge KC told the trial: "The evidence proves that between at least 2009 and 2016, both defendants were actively engaged in sourcing such goods on the international 'grey' and 'black' markets, and selling them either to other brokers or middlemen or to representatives of governments or regimes who did not have access to such items on the legitimate market."
The convictions followed a seven-year investigation conducted by HM Revenue and Customs, which uncovered how Greenhalgh and Farmakis had falsified end-user certificates to conceal the true destinations of their weapons shipments.
These forged documents fraudulently indicated the arms were heading to nations not subject to international sanctions.
Edwige Hill, HMRC deputy director in the fraud investigation service, said: "Greenhalgh and Farmakis showed a blatant disregard for international sanctions, seeking to profit from the illegal supply of weapons."
Authorities are currently working to extradite Farmakis back to Britain ahead of the July sentencing date.