A former undercover cop who snared members of the Burger Bar Boys has warned violent gangs are in an "arms race" to control the West Midlands' illegal drugs trade.
Neil Woods, now a campaigner to legalise recreational drugs for rehabilitation benefits, said criminals are willing to use "extreme violence" to gain an upper hand on their competitors.
That includes "importing" illegal firearms from places like the "Balkans" region of south eastern Europe onto the streets of the West Midlands, ready for combat.
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And he warned violence could spill out into rural towns like Shrewsbury and Hereford, where 'gangs from Birmingham and Liverpool are battling it out for territory in county lines dealing'.
It comes as an FOI by Birmingham Live revealed West Midlands Police seized machine guns and sawn off shotguns from criminals in the past two years, including those in the Black Country.
Mr Woods said the sole reason criminals are arming themselves is to control the drugs black market - as he called on the Government to legalise recreational drugs, branding addiction a "health issue".
He told Birmingham Live: "Competition in illicit drug markets are the driver for gun ownership and gun violence. There’s isn’t anything else driving it.
"There is an increased risk of violence with the more weapons that there are in the illicit drug markets.
"Until the day happens where control of the drug supply is taken from gangs, this risk will increase.
"If the Government had control of the drug markets through legal regulation, this simply would not be happening."
He said drug dealers are constantly adapting to new regulations and crime-fighting techniques, pushing them to become "more violent and aggressive" in order to stay top of the food chain.
"In trying to deal with drugs through the criminal justice route, we have created a Darwinian situation on our streets," he said.
"The dealers most willing to use extreme violence and ruthlessness become the most successful.
"The harder we push, the faster this develops.
"It’s time to take back control and break this cycle of violence and stop the demand for firearms."
Mr Woods said the West Midlands was one of "three hubs" for county lines dealing - the practice of trafficking drugs into rural areas - with the other two being Liverpool and London.
He said the reason that criminals have armed themselves with weapons such as submachine guns and revolvers - which have been seized by West Midlands Police - is due to the "lucrative drug trade".
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"There is an ever increasing risk that violence from these weapons might make its way into towns where Liverpool gangs compete with Birmingham dealers," he said.
"County lines dealing is highly lucrative.
"Beautiful towns like Shrewsbury and Hereford where that competition sometimes flares up will be increasingly at risk.
"It is worrying because most rural conflicts have so far been with knives.
"As this continues, I predict more violence because that’s the pattern around the world.
"The gun stashes in West Midlands are because of the lucrative drug trade."
The UK has very tight gun laws. Only a few types of firearms are legal, such as shotguns and rifles, which can be owned under strict conditions.
However fully automatic or burst fire weapons, like submachine guns, are illegal.
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That poses the question: how and where are criminals getting their hands on weapons like machine guns which have been taken off the streets of the West Midlands?
"Let’s be clear, these weapons are not falling into criminal hands, they’re being imported to order as an arms race in the illicit markets," said Mr Woods.
"It’s about control of huge business opportunities."
He added: "Guns come from all manner of directions around the world.
"But I’m led to believe that most section five firearms come from the Balkans at the moment."
Asked what is defined by section five, Mr Woods said: "Section five is pretty huge nowadays. It includes burst fire (firearms), assault rifles and machine guns.
"Rocket launchers and CS spray are also in that section - all the extra naughty stuff that organised crime likes to stock pile nowadays."
The National Crime Agency said most illegal firearms in the West Midlands are being trafficked from Central and Eastern Europe.
But Mr Woods said the UK is still behind violence being seen by its European neighbour Sweden, where he says "they have moved onto using grenades and other explosives, with literally hundreds of explosions happening in the streets over the past two years".
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"I just hope we are still a long way away from that situation," he said.
During his time as a police officer, Mr Woods worked undercover, throwing himself into the criminal underworld to catch drug dealers.
He wrote about his crime-fighting exploits in his book Good Cop, Bar War.
During one covert operation, in Northampton, Mr Woods helped to bring down members of the Burger Bar Boys gang from Birmingham, who he said had taken over the city's drug trade.
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Those members ended up getting jailed for around eight to nine years, he wrote.
Mr Woods is now a member of The Law Enforcement Action Partnership, an international organisation of current and former police officers, judges and prosecutors who work to improve drug policy.
He praised the efforts of "brave and talented" police officers in the West Midlands who are "good at catching drug dealers".
But he said the problem with the illegal drugs market is the policy itself, calling on recreational drugs to be legalised and prescribed which he says would make usage safer for people and take the power away from criminals making profits.
"Policing doesn’t shrink the market, it changes the shape of it," he said. "And that changing shape is what leads to more guns.
"County lines is driven by the problematic heroin market and to a lesser extent the problematic crack market.
"The most hardcore heroin users consume 50 per cent of the market.
"If we prescribe heroin to just those few we reduce the illicit market by half. That’s a huge chunk of money out of the pockets of gangsters, money that pays for the guns.
"It’s a health issue with well documented, proven health solutions.
"Solutions that would reduce the catastrophic death toll, and reduce the power of organised crime.
"But we need to go further, and legally regulate all of the drugs according to the level of risk.
"Drugs have never been more available, cheaper or more varied.
"Deaths have never been higher. Children have easy access to these drugs, way easier than alcohol, and they’re being exploited to deal.
"The question is, how bad does it have to get before we realise as a society that the problem is the current policy?"
His book Good Cop, Bad War is available to buy on Amazon.
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