- British businessman David Greenhalgh and Greek national Christos Farmakis have both been sentenced to 16 years in prison for running an illegal arms dealing enterprise worth tens of millions of pounds between 2009 and 2016.
- The pair operated as middlemen in black market trades supplying former Soviet fighter jets, surface-to-air missile systems, anti-tank weapons, and thousands of assault rifles to war-torn nations under embargoes, including Sudan, South Sudan, and Libya.
- Farmakis, who served as an adviser to the UK government-funded quango Greater London Enterprise, fled the UK after being granted bail and was convicted and sentenced in his absence at Southwark Crown Court.
- An investigation by HMRC revealed that the defendants routinely forged end-user certificates, used fake government credentials, and made corrupt payments to foreign public officials to conceal the true destinations of the weapons.
- Despite receiving explicit warnings from HMRC regarding strict UK licensing requirements, both men deliberately bypassed export controls using a complex international network of companies registered across multiple countries.
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