Haul of guns seized by our border guards trebles in just a year

SEIZURES of ammunition and weapons at Britain’s borders almost trebled last year.

Officials confiscated 110 real and 353 imitation firearms at air, rail and sea ports. The Border Force also seized 5,849 ‘firearms-related’ items, including pepper sprays and stun guns.

Police and the security services are desperate to keep such weapons out of the hands of Islamic State-inspired militants. Investigators are also concerned at continued attempts by organised crime gangs, particularly from Eastern Europe, to obtain guns. The gangsters use the weapons to run lucrative drug, human trafficking and racketeering networks.

According to the latest statistics, released in a parliamentary answer, 6,312 firearms and associated paraphernalia were seized in 2016-17. This was a sharp jump from 2,299 in the previous 12 months.

There was also a rise in the number of offensive weapons seized by Border Force, from 8,931 in 2015-16 to 10,935 in 2016-17.

A spokesman said: ‘The UK has some of the toughest gun laws in the world and we are determined to keep it that way. ‘As well as making physical checks on arriving luggage and cargo, Border Force works with their fellow law enforcement agencies, using intelligence and advanced technology, to detect and stop dangerous weapons at the border.

‘Our targeted operations and routine searches led to the seizure of over 10,000 offensive weapons last year.’

Last year a gang of gun-runners were jailed for shipping machine guns into Britain from the same European dealers who supplied the Charlie Hebdo terrorists.

The 22 AK-47-style machine

‘Checks on bags and cargo’

guns and nine Skorpion submachine guns were bought on the black market in Slovakia.

They were smuggled into Britain by boat up the Medway in Kent before being intercepted by officers from the National Crime Agency.

Investigators said the haul, the largest ever, included four times as many weapons as used in recent attacks.

The final customers were never identified.

In September a leading counter-terrorism police officer warned that the next strike against Britain would come from ‘in our midst’.

Neil Basu, who is a deputy assistant commissioner at the Met, said a ‘more extreme second generation’ of lone wolves inspired by Islamic State were desperate to get firearms. And he warned that our borders remained weak.