A CONVICTED gangster - jailed for plotting a serious attack in Glasgow - has been given extra prison time for a scrap closer to home.

Ezekial Aremu, 22, was one of two Prestwich men given hefty prison terms after investigators in the Scottish city intercepted them outside a shopping centre.

Aremu, along with Cade Johnston, 21, was arrested by police outside the Forge shopping centre in Glasgow last December, after their grey Mercedes car was pulled over.

Detectives found a balaclava in the footwell of the Mercedes and £1,000 in counterfeit £20 notes, along with two full cans of petrol in the boot.

And when officers raided an Air BnB property, where Aremu and Johnston were staying with a third man, Richard Carty, they found a holdall which contained a Luger pistol and six live cartridges and parts of a Glock pistol.

Within the apartment there were also Royal Mail uniforms and bags and Glasgow City Council hi-vis vests.

Aremu, Johnston and Carty each pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to become involved in a serious organised crime.

At the High Court in Glasgow, Aremu was jailed for six years, Johnston for five years and nine months and Carty, 38, who was originally from Salford, for six years and six months.

But now it has emerged that Aremu had been wanted over an affray charge in Bury, dating back to July 2018.

His details had been circulated via the Bury Times 'most wanted' page on a number of occasions in 2019.

And when he appeared in the dock at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court over the violence, he was given a consecutive 10-month jail sentence.

An inquiry into Aremu and Johnston's activities north of the border also revealed that a box had also been uncovered in the apartment which had been specially adapted to hold a gun. One of the Royal Mail bags also contained a cardboard box addressed to a vet's practice at the shopping centre where they were eventually detained.

Prosecutors said they could not be 100 per cent certain what was their intended target but the presence of the firearm with live ammunition indicated a "serious crime" was planned.

Aremu insisted he was not going to be involved in the use of the weapons and while Johnston confessed to having knowledge of the preparations, he maintained he was not aware of the guns.

Jailing them, Lord Arthurson said: "You will appreciate that in view of the extremely serious nature of the index offending here, it is plain that only substantial custodial disposals will be appropriate."