Rocket launcher among 80 weapons handed in during Hampshire police firearms surrender

Hampshire police ran the surrender across its stations up to Sunday.

Today police revealed that the rocket launcher, two starting guns from a sailing club and a deactivated automatic machine gun were surrendered.

Police also received 31 handguns, 12 shotguns, 24 rifles, two starting canons, a machine gun and twi non-descript guns were recovered.

Officers said 23 quantities of ammunition were also handed in.

Deactivated and imitation guns, BB guns and Tasers were also received by police.

Officers will now investigate to see if any of the weapons are linked to a crime.

Chief Inspector Karen McManus, tactical firearms lead for Hampshire and Thames Valley, said: ‘We would like to thank everyone who handed in any firearms or ammunition as part of this surrender.

'This means that there are 80 fewer firearms and imitation firearms on our streets which could have easily fallen into the hands of criminals.

‘As a result our neighbourhoods are much safer, both for our residents and for our officers who work every day and night to protect them.

‘We are very pleased that so many people took the opportunity to take part in this initiative and the number of firearms recovered certainly proves how valuable such a surrender is.

‘Gun crime is low in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and has not seen a rise others force areas have, however we cannot be complacent and we will continue to do all we can to make our communities safer.’

The action came as part of a national surrender run by National Ballistics Intelligence Service.