Antique pistols ‘destined for London gangs’

ANTIQUE firearms – including one duelling pistol – that were being adapted for use in gang violence have been seized by police.

Officers raided a home in Enfield, north London, on Thursday and discovered a workshop in the kitchen used for reactivating archaic weapons.

A total of 25 firearms, mostly revolvers, were found, some of them loaded. Police have seen a rise in the number of these so-called “pinfire revolvers” found in London in recent months. Pictures of the haul showed the array of guns seized – some even resembling the type seen in cowboy films.

They also included smaller revolvers, some with missing parts and in pieces, and what looked like an 18th-century duelling pistol that would have originally fired lead balls.

Video footage of the kitchen workshop showed plastic boxes and buckets filled with rusty gun parts alongside an array of tools. A bullet-moulding press, lathes, bullet cases and bullet heads were also discovered. A 25-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply firearms, the Met said. Both suspects are still in custody.

Det Supt Neil Ballard, from the specialist crime command, thinks the weapons were bound for the streets of the capital. He said: “We believe these firearms were obtained from around the UK. The ammunition was manufactured at this address and the guns with ammunition were then being supplied [to] London gangs.”