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Typical Media and Police Melodrama, butthere are a couple things about this that bother me. See emphsis below.

Met Police seize 'biggest weapons haul of its kind'

Publisher: Ian Morgan
Published: 13/09/2006 - 15:36:16 PM

Dartford arms haul. Photo: PA

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Hundreds of firearms seized in Dartford dawn raids

Hundreds of firearms were seized from a suburban house today in the biggest weapons haul of its kind by the Metropolitan Police.

Officers from Operation Trident raided the semi-detached property in Dartford, Kent, at 6am and discovered a cache of pump action shotguns, automatic and semi-automatic weapons.

A 55-year-old man was arrested at the house on suspicion of supplying firearms from a residential address.

The property is listed under the name of Michael Shepherd, a registered gun dealer who runs a website advertising the guns he sells. Locals referred to him as Mick.

A second home and a business address were searched nearby, but nothing of significance was found.

A linked operation was carried out in New Jersey, US, where a 40-year-old man was questioned.

Detective Superintendent Kevin Davis, from Operation Trident, which targets gun crime in the black community, said "hundreds and hundreds" of weapons were found.

"It's probably the biggest seizure of firearms that Operation Trident has had since its conception six years ago," he said.

"The premises raided were used to store hundreds and hundreds of weapons. I have never seen anything like it.

"Guns are mounted on every available wall space in the property and live ammunition was found lying on the floor.

"There are guns everywhere. It will take us at least three days to log it all and bag up the evidence.

"Some may be legal, some may not be legal."

The raids were part of Operation Mokpo, launched 18 months ago after a series of shootings by rival gangs in north London.

Mr Davis said officers entered the property at about 6am with a search warrant and that it was "peaceful and calmly undertaken".

"There was no risk to members of the public in the house or to officers."

The search by Trident officers and Polsa search teams is expected to continue at the property for the next couple of days.

Twelve plain-clothes police officers raided the three-bedroom house, which has a large US flag hanging over the front porch.

A maroon Camaro car with the registration number E6 GUNS was parked outside and many of the weapons were found in a large garage at the property.

Inside the two-storey house, antique weapons were mounted on the walls.

Bullets and ammunition were found on the floor while scores of guns were propped up against the walls.

The man arrested opened the door to police wearing black boxer shorts while his wife was asleep upstairs.

At about 10.25am, he was led outside wearing a red shirt and blue jeans, with a blue towel over his head.

He was bundled into an unmarked car to be taken to a north London police station for questioning.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman at the scene said he had been arrested on suspicion of supplying guns. She added that he was believed to have a gun licence.

"We had a spate of shootings about 18 months ago in north London. As a result of that we launched a big investigation to find out who was supplying the guns and that culminated in today's raids."

Operation Trident was set up in 1998 as a specific response to a spate of shootings and murders within the black community in the London boroughs of Lambeth and Brent.

Police were finding these crimes particularly difficult to investigate because of the unwillingness of witnesses to come forward through fear of reprisals from the criminals involved.

After the shootings and murders continued, Trident was implemented London-wide the following year. It has had a particular focus on drug-related shootings.

It exists as a dedicated operational command unit (OCU) within the Met's Specialist Crime Directorate.

Last year, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said London faced "considerable difficulties" in the future unless gun crime in the city's black community was brought under control.

Sir Ian has made it one of his priorities to crack down on "the men of violence" through Operation Trident.

Doug Clutterbuck, 66, retired, who lives a few doors away from the house, said he first noticed the police activity when he took his grandchild to the school opposite.

"I knew that he was a gun dealer. You used to see him going down the road with guns," he said.

"We have seen plenty of iffy people. I think he used to go shooting.

"I don't think this is an area for a gun dealer, not opposite a school."

He added: "I quite like the bloke... I'm quite surprised."

Mr Shepherd was described as a well-known registered gun dealer.

Mike Yardley, from the Shooting Sports Trust, said: "Mr Shepherd is known both as a gun dealer and collector.

"He specialises in weapons of the Victorian and Edwardian period and typically holds a very large stock.

"The man has been operating a website where he has been advertising his wares for a significant period of time."

Mr Yardley described him as a kindly but eccentric man of Asian descent who is a devout Catholic and loves Elvis Presley.

"He is very hospitable but rather an eccentric chap. I have been struck by the extent of his collection which is historically significant.

"He has one of the largest private collections in the UK - it is enormous and all in a semi-detached house in Dartford."

Officers later brought out thousands of rounds of live ammunition and about 20 weapons and put them into a marked police van.

They included about seven black rifles and a number of revolvers in see-through plastic bags, some of which were silver with brown handles.

Officers said they found guns in every room of the ?250,000, four-bedroom property, except the bathroom.

A source close to the investigation said: "Some were on the walls, some on the ceiling, some in cupboards, some just lying on the floor, there was ammunition on the floor."

A Scotland Yard spokesman confirmed that a "substantial amount of cash" had been recovered from the address, and the other residential address that was also searched.

About four guns were found there, he said.

The US authorities said they had been working with the UK, investigating weapons trafficking, for the last eight months.

Special Agent Rich Marianos, of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said: "We have been, during the last eight months, working in conjunction with the UK authorities on an international weapons trafficking investigation.

"Today in the US, ATF is conducting follow-up investigative efforts in support of the UK's raid in Kent."

Copyright Press Association 2006

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DD, Ret.

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