AUSTRALIA - A sex-shop owner has been sentenced to six months in jail for selling illegal guns, including high-powered semiautomatics, to Melbourne underworld figures, officials said Monday.
William Nash admitted to having sold weapons to crime boss Mario Condello through an associate between October 2003 and May 2004, at the height of Melbourne's gang war.
The South Australian District Court was told Monday that Nash sold two men silencers and 22 firearms, including a 9mm Uzi, a Colt .357 Magnum and a Bentley 12-gauge shotgun.
Nash, a 62-year-old native of Adelaide, pleaded guilty to four counts of taking part in the supply of firearms and possessing a silencer. He also was sentenced on 14 counts of giving false or misleading evidence before the Australian Crime Commission after his arrest.
Nash previously had been jailed for 18 months for lying under oath to the crime commission.
In sentencing Nash on Monday, Judge Dean Clayton said Nash had been reckless and demonstrated a disregard for the safety of the community. Clayton ordered a recognizance release term of six months, with Nash to be freed on a good-behavior bond in May 2008.
