British arms dealer sentenced to 16 years for illegal missile and jet sales
A London court sentenced UK arms broker David Greenhalgh and associate Christos Farmakis to 16 years for arranging illicit weapons deals with South Sudan and Libya.
In a Southwark Crown Court hearing, David Greenhalgh and Christos Farmakis received identical 16-year sentences for a series of illegal arms transactions spanning 2009-2016. Prosecutors detailed how the pair moved Soviet-era S-125 surface-to-air missiles to South Sudan, a region still subject to a UK embargo at the time, and coordinated the sale of fighter jets to Libya amid its civil war. Additional schemes targeted Iran, Iraq and Syria, violating multiple international sanctions.
Farmakis, who was tried in absentia, was uncovered after his official email at the publicly funded Greater London Enterprise forwarded incriminating messages to his supervisor. Judge Sally-Ann Hales condemned their repeated attempts to flout export controls for substantial profit, underscoring the seriousness of the offenses.
Why it matters
The case shows the UK courts' willingness to impose harsh penalties for breaching arms embargoes and illegal weapons trade.
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