National operation targets internet gun sales
More than 500 Met officers raided nearly 50 addresses across London this month as part of a national drive against the sale of prohibited weapons via the internet.
Police recovered 86 handguns, three machine guns and more than 5,000 rounds of ammunition in the four-day operation that covered 24 London boroughs.
Nationally, more than 700 addresses were raided in a two-week pro-active campaign to arrest buyers and recover illegal weapons.
The raids came after months of intelligence gathering by officers from all forces in England and Wales.
As a result, ACPO, the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS), HM Customs and Excise and the MPS were able to put together 500 target profiles of offenders.
According to ACPO the operations were showing excellent results.
Alan Green, ACPO lead on the criminal use of firearms and Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police said: “This operation will build on the success of the first operation in June and target people who have bought prohibited weapons over the internet.
“It is an offence to possess weapons such as hand guns, air guns, stun guns or CS gas even if they have been acquired abroad, and we are determined to recover as many weapons as possible, to send a strong message to criminals that we will not tolerate the trade in illegal guns.”
This latest operation follows Operation Bembridge which took place in June this year and saw the recovery of more than 400 firearms and the arrest of 109 suspects.