Dramatic moment police wrestle man to ground as he fled on e-bike with loaded gun
Police officers in Birmingham wrestled a gunman to the ground as he attempted to flee on an e-bike.
Antonio Balu, 25, was speeding down Soho Road in Birmingham on the black bike before quick-thinking police yanked him off as he rode by.
Officers from West Midlands Police became suspicious after spotting Balu wearing a hoodie in 25C temperatures on August 13.
Bodycam footage showed the moment PC Matthew More grabbed Balu’s backpack as he sped past, forcing him to crash into the kerb.
Balu was searched and officers found a pistol loaded with three rounds of ammunition in his bag pack.
A panicking Balu tells officers: ‘I just found this bike and this bag, I just put it on now.’
An officer replies: ‘No you haven’t, we’ve been watching you for ages.’
When quizzed what was inside the bag he replied, ‘nothing’, before saying: ‘I haven’t done nothing wrong.’
Balu admitted possession of a firearm and possession of ammunition and was jailed for five years at Birmingham Crown Court last week.
The arrest was conducted by the force’s Guardian taskforce – which is dedicated to tackling serious youth violence.
Detective Inspector Jon Green, from West Midlands Police Major Crime Unit, said: ‘This is excellent work by the Guardian Taskforce whose actions have taken a deadly weapon off the streets.
‘Balu claimed he’d just found the bike and the bag, but we pieced together his movements using CCTV to show that he’d left his house on the bike and carrying the bag earlier in the day.
‘What started as a routine stop of someone acting suspiciously has resulted in a loaded firearm being taken off the street and the carrier being jailed for five years.’
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