Police seize guns and "substantial quantity" of shotgun ammo

The police issued the statement below this afternoon. It refers to three guns being seized and "a substantial quantity of shotgun cartridges" in a raid in Homerton this morning. No doubt significant but shotguns do not seem to be used regularly in Hackney shootings. Some experts believe that if bullets for handguns were readily available then the numbers of shootings would escalate. Blood and Property piece on this issue: £2 bullets and conspiracy theories

Police statement: At 7:00am on Wednesday, June 16, officers from Hackney Borough Police's Operation Bantam proactive firearms unit, in co-operation with Hackney's drugs squad, executed a warrant on an address in Ryder Mews, Homerton Road, E9. A search of the premises was undertaken and the following items were seized:
- 1 shotgun
- 1 revolver
- 1 self-loading pistol
- a substantial quantity of shotgun cartridges
- a small amount of cannabis

A 16-year-old youth and a 34-year-old man were arrested at the scene, both on suspicion of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and possession of cannabis. They were taken to an east London police station for further questioning.

DCI Gary Bruce, in charge of proactive operations on Hackney Borough, said: "These seizures are the result of intensive and ongoing intelligence-led police work under Operation Hassium, Hackney's response to gang crime. They demonstrate our intention to remove firearms from the streets of Hackney and officers will continue to identify, target and recover firearms to make the borough a safer place. Today's result will undoubtedly have a real impact on tackling gang and gun-enabled crime in Hackney."

Operation Bantam is a proactive firearms unit created to target gun crime within Hackney borough.