Members of a family which runs a leading Bradford restaurant arranged to buy firearms to protect themselves during a feud, a Court heard yesterday.

Leeds Crown Court was told that brothers Zeeshan Khan and David Pemberton and their family were associated with the Saffron Desi restaurant, in Leeds Road, Bradford. In 2011 the family was embroiled in a dispute with another Bradford group which included brothers Arfan and Kamran Ijaz, and a man called Mohammed Nisar Khan, known as Meggy.

Prosecutor Richard Wright told the court that just before 11pm on January 27, 2011, armed police stopped a Transit van, as it travelled into Bradford along Cleckheaton Road in Oakenshaw.

In the back of the van, barely hidden under a carpet, they found a “lethal cargo”. Officers seized a sub-machine gun with silencer, two magazines and 50 live 9mm cartridges; a pump action shotgun with 12 cartridges; and a rifle with telescopic sight, two magazines and 15 rounds of ammunition.

Mr Wright said: “All were illegally held weapons, all were in working order, all were found with large amounts of live ammunition, all were lethal weapons that had no lawful or legitimate purpose.”

Police arrested the driver of the van, Jason Crompton, and the passenger, David Pemberton.

Mr Wright said the feud had led to a number of incidents, including an alleged assault on Arfan Ijaz and windows at the restaurant being smashed on two occasions. Police issued a warning to the family that lives might be at risk and helped them to move out of their home for the night but incidents between the two sides continued, including a large-scale disturbance at a car wash in Thornton Road.

Mr Wright said: “The prosecution accepts that this family was caught up in a violent dispute and might have felt the need to seek protection. However, protection should be sought from those who are enjoined by the law to offer it, namely the police.

“We say this family took a dangerous situation and deliberately aggravated it by the purchase of lethal automatic weapons and live ammunition. These were not the actions of a family that simply wanted to deter.”

The prosecutor said the transaction was planned between Zeeshan Khan and a family friend in Liverpool, Christopher Chung.

Khan made the arrangements, Pemberton arranged delivery of the money and collection of the weapons, and Crompton was recruited to fulfil that role. The weapons were stored at the home of another Liverpool man, Robert Parran, who is already serving a 15-and-a-half-year jail sentence for firearms and drugs offences.

Khan, 33, of Kismet Gardens, Bradford Moor; Pemberton, 37, of Belmont Avenue, Bradford; Chung, 30, and Parran, 34, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life. Crompton admitted possessing a prohibited weapon and possessing a firearm without a certificate.

Khan’s barrister, Richard Mansell QC, said he was a man of impeccable character, but they felt they had no alternative to arming themselves with guns to protect themselves.

Andrew Stubbs QC, for Pemberton, said it was a campaign of intimidation and extortion against members of his family and their business interests.

Simon Csoka QC, for Crompton, said he had been stupidly loyal to a friend.

Judge Guy Kearl QC was sentencing the five defendants today.