A PINNER arms dealer arrested in a “dramatic” raid by armed police today denied being involved in “clandestine smuggling”.

Specialist firearms officers lay in wait for Guy Savage, 34, outside his detatched Daymer Gardens home before ambushing him as he pulled out of the street.

The strike, on Tuesday last week, was combined with a raid on his business Sabre Defence Industries Ltd, in Belvue Road, Northolt, where police say more than 500 guns were seized.

He was legally allowed to supply weapons but that licence has since been revoked.

The married father-of-two appeared at City of Westminster Magistrates Court facing extradition to the United States today and is accused of breaching export regulations on items including M16 assault rifles and silencers.

But he insisted through his lawyer that the accusations amounted to only “regulatory offences” and he was in no way guilty of arms smuggling.

One neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said “he kept himself to himself”, while another described the raid saying: “I was out walking my dog when I heard the loud bangs.

“My two kids were in the house so it was quite scary.”

Officers blew out the tyres of his Mercedes with special bullets, known as Hatton rounds, that disintegrate on impact so they do not ricochet.

A resident who lives near where the police seized Mr Savage said: “I heard the commotion and my son saw the guy get wrestled to the ground and taken by the police. It was all very dramatic.”

On behalf of the US Government, lawyer Peter Caldwell said the extradition request related to Mr Savage's “business activities” as chief executive and shareholder of Sabre's UK and US wings.

Seth Levine, on behalf of Mr Savage, said: “He's a properly licenced trader in arms. He was entitled to be exporting and importing items like these.

“There's no suggestion that the end users were anything other than appropriate end users. There's no suggestion that he was engaged in the clandestine smuggling of arms that could end up in nefarious hands.”

The police investigation of Sabre's Northolt premises continues.

Judge Kenneth Grant granted Savage conditional bail and adjourned the extradition hearing until March 29.

Under the conditions of his bail he must reside at his address in Pinner, he must be electronically monitored and subject to a curfew between 9pm and 6am and that he must not enter his business premises in Northolt.

He testified as a witness in the 2008 Reading Crown Court trial of two men who converted his replica submachine guns into real automatic weapons.

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