Five Met officers taken off duty after police ‘leave bag of guns outside Sadiq Khan’s home’
It was reported that armed police officers assigned to protect London Mayor Sadiq Khan left a bag containing a large number of weapons and ammunition in front of his residence in south London, and this bag was later discovered by a member of the public.
The discovery was made by the girlfriend of scaffolder Jordan Griffiths, who told The Sun newspaper on Tuesday evening that she found the bag on the pavement.
Inside the unclaimed bag was an MP5 semi-automatic Heckler & Koch carbine, a Glock pistol, a Taser and various rounds of ammunition.
Mr Griffiths said he was “shocked” when he became aware of the dangerous content.
He told The Sun: “I couldn’t believe my eyes and took a few photos as proof of what we found.
“I called the police and told them what I found and within minutes they came to take the guns away.
“They were really shocked when they arrived. They examined the bag carefully and hurriedly took it away.
“I was told that Sadiq Khan was dropped off there by one of the security guards, which made sense as he lived here.”
The Met’s Professional Standards Directorate is investigating what happened and five police officers have been suspended from frontline duties.
In the statement made by the police, the following statements were made: “A member of the public called around 21.40 in the evening. police after finding a bag containing Met-issued firearms and a Taser in a street in south London.
“Seven minutes after I called policePolice teams arrived at the scene and collected the items safely.
“We are urgently reviewing the circumstances of this incident and are aware of the concerns this may cause.
“At this stage it is believed the bag was misplaced by officers shortly before members of the public found it.
“We are aware of the concern this may cause and an internal review into this situation has been launched immediately.”
A spokesman for Mayor of London Sir Sadiq said: “This is a very serious incident and has been escalated to the Met’s Professional Standards Directorate. The Met must now take all steps to ensure such an incident never happens again.”
