Police Uncover Gun Factory at UK's Largest Traveller Site, Foiling 'Race War' Plot
When intelligence reached the Metropolitan Police in early 2024 regarding an underworld figure involved with illegal firearms, investigators immediately recognised this was no ordinary criminal. Faisal Razzaq had previously been sentenced to 11 years imprisonment for acting as lookout and getaway driver during the botched 2005 armed robbery at a Bradford travel agents that resulted in the cold-blooded murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky.
Razzaq's shadowy activities would ultimately enable detectives and counter-terrorism officers to expose a sophisticated gun and explosives factory operating from Britain's largest traveller site, supplying weapons to organised crime networks across London and the South East.
The Buckles Lane Operation
In a major security operation requiring the evacuation of a substantial area for public safety, armed officers arrested Thomas McKenna at gunpoint within the sprawling Buckles Lane camp in South Ockendon, Essex. One of his three caravans served as a clandestine workshop for manufacturing the extensive arsenal discovered there and at other locations.
The weapons cache included six converted Turkish Ceonic P320 blank-firing pistols, a .22 calibre single shotgun disguised as a torch, a replica AK47 assault rifle prepared for conversion to live firing, and component parts of a Sten Mark II submachine gun. Officers also recovered ammunition featuring 'dum dum' bullets banned under international law due to their hollowed tips that expand upon impact with devastating effect.
Lorry driver McKenna, aged 60, and his girlfriend, bus driver Tina Smith, 54, had been stockpiling weapons and constructing improvised explosive devices for what they described as an imminent 'race war' targeting Muslims and immigrants.
Extremist Communications Revealed
In chilling text messages to associates, McKenna wrote: 'Our only chance for survival is strike now while we have the numbers and unalive the f****** lot of them.' Smith echoed these sentiments in her own communication: 'They have to be gone from this country. Shoot them all.'
Following the sentencing of gang members at Kingston Crown Court, including McKenna who received 16 years imprisonment, it has emerged that the Buckles Lane camp has transformed into a crime hotspot. The site has expanded into an unregulated caravan park where individuals can reside anonymously in basic accommodation offered at discounted rates.
Local residents and insiders report that criminals and illegal immigrants are living there after pitch owners illegally rented them out, a problem critics fear is being replicated at traveller sites nationwide.
Operation Eatchief Investigation
McKenna's downfall began with the launch of Operation Eatchief in May 2024, when detectives received intelligence about Razzaq, who publicly operated a luxury car hire business while secretly functioning as a 'top level weapons supplier.'
Surveillance led to the armed interception of a vehicle driven by Pride Tuhwe, 26, an associate of Razzaq's, en route to the Notting Hill Carnival on August 24 that year. Officers discovered one of the converted Ceonic pistols loaded with prohibited dum dum bullets.
Fingerprint and DNA analysis directed investigators toward McKenna, who had three previous firearms convictions and most recently served a nine-year sentence in 2005. Subsequent monitoring revealed Ricky Dorey, 43, a friend of McKenna's residing at the same traveller camp, was distributing guns to customers including Razzaq.
Ricky received assistance from his brother Robert, 44, of Tilbury, Essex, who had been released on licence in May 2023 after serving a 16-year sentence for attempted murder involving a shooting to the head.
Weapons Distribution Network
An officer involved in the investigation stated: 'It's not a good week if they hadn't sold firearms. They were not choosy.' Ricky was observed delivering firearms to Razzaq in Harrow on September 2, prompting police to raid the address where they discovered one of McKenna's converted firearms concealed within a wardrobe compartment.
Razzaq was assisted in weapons sales by Abdul Saleh, 32, from Edgware, with both men arrested the same day in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. Detectives intercepted a particularly alarming communication from Razzaq instructing Saleh that 'if ever police tried to detain him, he should not hesitate to shoot at them in order to escape.'
Surveillance continued on McKenna, and on September 30, officers observed him in a car driven by Smith meeting customer Allan Crosby in a residential street in Sidcup, south London. Crosby, 44, operated another luxury car business called Sterling Sports and Prestige from an industrial estate in Mereworth, near Maidstone in Kent, with criminal associate Ryan Smith, also 44.
The November Raid
Police raided these premises on October 23, discovering another of McKenna's converted weapons alongside a bag containing 20 rounds of hollow point ammunition. With all conspiracy members identified, detectives authorised the major operation to arrest McKenna on November 6.
More than 80 officers, including personnel from armed units and the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, descended upon the Buckles Lane site early that morning. Dramatic footage captured live weapons and a Taser trained on a visibly shaken McKenna as he was ordered to walk backwards through a smashed caravan door with his hands extended behind him.
The three-day search revealed McKenna's illicit workshop contained extensive equipment including a lathe, drill, and welding apparatus. Additional discoveries included a hunting knife, throwing axes, knuckledusters, military clothing, a helmet, weapons magazines, and munitions guidebooks.
Explosives and Extremist Materials
Most alarmingly, investigators recovered 4.5kg of homemade 'black powder' explosive and materials for manufacturing more. Two homemade bombs fashioned from plastic fish baiters had been casually stored in a jug beside the dining table, one containing shrapnel to increase lethality, with 34 additional baiters prepared for explosive loading.
Police also seized extremist material revealing McKenna's connections to extreme right-wing anti-Muslim ideology. Prosecutor Emily Dummett informed the sentencing hearing that McKenna had been 'stockpiling explosives, firearms and improvised explosive devices for, as in his communications, a race war to fight and kill the Muslims, the immigrants, and so on.'
McKenna had sent associates numerous texts urging them to arm themselves for impending 'war,' writing in one message: 'Bro, that's why I believe our only course for survival freedom is strike now while we have the numbers and hard unalive the f***ing lot of them.'
Elsewhere, he warned: 'We have to fully dominate the Muslims or there will never be peace,' and 'I have a bunch of s**t. I'm stockpiling. Hit them on the approach. Ambush them.' A series of messages between February and August 2024 demanded 'a revolution ASAP' and indicated McKenna contemplated 'kicking it off himself,' chillingly predicting: 'We're going to be blowing s*** up soon enough.'
Camp Conditions and Criminal Exploitation
The couple's cavalier attitude toward their extensive arsenal emerged in almost comical text exchanges from 2022 where McKenna asked 'Where is my pistol babe? I've lost it,' to which Smith replied 'I've put it in the top drawer in the front room.' Smith had also proudly sent videos documenting her attempts to manufacture 'black powder,' though McKenna responded with 'scathing replies at her lack of expertise.'
Sources indicate criminality at Buckles Lane extends far beyond McKenna's gang due to the relative anonymity the camp provides. One individual working to improve conditions for Essex's showman community reported that pitch owners had departed and 'put on as many static homes as they can just for the rental income.'
'Organised crime groups have moved in and are causing problems with the showmen families still living there,' they explained. 'In one case a Romanian gang hassled young girls from the community to try to recruit them into prostitution.'
A woman in her 50s residing at the site added: 'Some people contacted the MP who tried to help but the council still hasn't done anything and we are living in fear in a place that was once perfect for our families.'
Council Inaction and National Implications
Former Thurrock Tory MP Jackie Doyle-Price repeatedly raised concerns with the council after being contacted by law-abiding Buckles Lane residents before losing her seat in 2024. 'Thurrock Council continues to look the other way and has done nothing to make the site compliant with the law,' she stated. 'It was made very clear to the council that if things were not sorted it would become a lawless place and this is what is happening.'
While Buckles Lane contains 31 approved pitches for travelling showmen, this has ballooned to 111 pitches without planning permission, hosting 835 static caravans in rows of up to 30, with accommodations openly advertised for rent on social media. A Labour-run Thurrock Council report indicates an astonishing 76 percent of the site's more than 1,000 occupants should not be living there.
The authority faces accusations of 'turning a blind eye' because the report expresses concerns about a housing crisis if occupants requiring eviction needed rehoming. Many residents are understood to be low-paid workers taking advantage of cheap weekly rents ranging from £120 to £170.
The council report acknowledges: 'The council will have to give careful consideration about how to deal with the issues related to the sub-letting of plots at Buckles Lane to non-showmen. Interviews with showmen living on Buckles Lane and with those who have moved away suggest that levels of crime and anti-social behaviour from non-showmen are some of the primary reasons why households have moved away.'
National Pattern of Site Misuse
This issue of non-permitted occupants renting units on traveller sites affects numerous regions nationwide, with councils adopting varying enforcement approaches. Records from South Cambridgeshire Council meetings reveal surveys identified many sites occupied by non-travellers, though councillors opted for a 'measured' enforcement strategy since 'there may be some occupiers where the council will have a duty to provide alternative accommodation.'
In November, a Planning Inspector supported Wiltshire Council's enforcement action against traveller site owner Patrick Ward. His Greenacres site near Trowbridge was authorised for only 28 mobile homes across 14 pitches for traveller occupation but expanded to 77 caravans, many rented on the open market. Ward must now evict non-traveller families and remove their homes or face prosecution.
Similar disputes have been recorded at sites in Enderby in Leicestershire, Kettering in Northamptonshire, and Arlesey in Bedfordshire. A whistleblower with years of experience assisting travellers secure retrospective planning permission explained: 'It makes it hard to maintain the argument that there is a national shortage of traveller pitches if so many people are willing to rent their sites to anyone.'
'Some traveller landlords are seeing pound signs over anything else and making a fortune through an illicit rental scheme. This is happening on sites across the country but local councils are reluctant to do anything as, if they take enforcement action, there will be a flood of new people applying to their emergency homeless list.'
Sentencing and Ongoing Concerns
A Thurrock Council spokesman responded: 'Thurrock Council has an injunction in place which prevents any further development of land at Buckles Lane and action has been taken to enforce on this injunction several times. Work to resolve issues at the site is ongoing. This is a highly complex issue and involves a great many vulnerable people who the council are working to protect.'
McKenna's imprisonment followed guilty pleas to 14 charges including firearms offences and attempting to manufacture explosives. Both he and Tina Smith admitted making explosives, though they denied terrorism connections, and possessing documents and videos relating to explosive manufacture likely useful for terrorism. Smith additionally pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited firearm regarding an illegally converted Ceonic pistol.
Allan Crosby received ten years after admitting possession with intent to supply approximately half a kilogram of cocaine and being found guilty of firearm possession. Ryan Smith was jailed for seven years following conviction for firearm and ammunition possession.
Among those scheduled for sentencing next month is Razzaq, 44, convicted of manslaughter, robbery, and firearms offences for the armed robbery at Universal Express travel agents in Bradford where PC Beshenivsky was shot in the chest at point-blank range. He has admitted charges including conspiracy to sell prohibited firearms and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Detective Chief Inspector James Tipple of the Met's Specialist Crime Command stated that dismantling this gang ensured 'some of the most dangerous members of our society will be off the streets of London for a very long time.' The pressing question remains: how many similar operations continue undetected in comparable circumstances, and will authorities intercept them before tragedy strikes?
