9:51am UK, Monday September 05, 2011
Tom Parmenter, Sky News correspondent
Sky News can reveal how rioting gang members have stored away firearms ready for further disorder after the unrest in England last month.
Our exclusive investigation allowed Metropolitan Police detectives to seize a stash of five guns. The weapons were bundled up in a bin store in Brockley, southeast London.
Sky sources said they were concealed by gangs in anticipation of further clashes with officers.
The information came to us from an anonymous individual who felt they could not deal directly with the police.
But the person did have genuine concerns about what might happen if the gangs were given another opportunity to use the weapons.
Once we were told of the existence of this haul, we alerted detectives at the Metropolitan Police.
Their priority, and our own, was to recover the firearms as quickly as possible in case they were either moved or even used in a shooting.
The location of the stash was revealed in a text sent to Sky on September 2. We do not know who sent it.
It read: "Guns in yellow and orange jd bag at st peters court wickham road brockley london se4, open the bin area at entrance, on left hand side, this is a black metal door, you will find in bin the guns within the bag, describe, the bin area has st peters court written above in big writing on sign, remember left hand side bin, st peters court are a small block of flats."
Within moments of the text messages arriving, we got back in touch with the Met Police detectives, who had a team of officers on standby to conduct the search.
Within an hour and a half, more than 30 officers were swarming around the flats in Brockley.
They had soon dragged the bin from behind the black door specified in the message. Moments later an officer found the orange and yellow bag.
Forensics officers were then brought in to record the find. Armed police officers were the next to arrive. They had the experience and expertise to examine the guns and make them safe.
The guns were wrapped in three plastic bags. The green inner bag contained five weapons which were carefully removed. Among them were two flare guns, two old pistols and one revolver.
Detective Chief Inspector Theresa Breen told Sky News: "This is a hugely successful operation not just for the Metropolitan Police but for the community at large.
"A member of the community has felt confident enough to use Sky News to come to us with information that there were weapons somewhere within this area.
"I think that shows the community still has confidence in the police."
She added: "We will identify whether those weapons have been used in any crimes. If they have we will use that information to go out and identify those offenders, arrest those offenders and put them before the courts."
In all likelihood, the text message was sent from a pay-as-you-go mobile. Whoever sent it took a risk, but they also made their community that bit safer.
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