Armed officers assigned to protect London Mayor Sadiq Khan made a serious error when they left a holdall packed with deadly firearms on the pavement outside his family home in Clapham, south London.
The bag contained several heavy-duty weapons including an MP5 submachine gun, a Koch Carbine, a Glock 17 pistol loaded with live rounds, and a 50,000-volt Taser.
A pregnant woman spotted the suspicious bag and, out of curiosity, kicked it to see what it was. Concerned, she returned home and informed her partner. The couple then went back to the location, took the holdall home, and discovered it was full of Metropolitan Police firearms.
Her partner, Jordan Griffiths, told The Sun: “It was lucky one of the guns inside didn’t go off or else she and our baby due next month could have been shot and killed. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I hate to think what might have happened if anyone else in Clapham had found that bag. It could have been mayhem.”
Griffiths laid the guns out on his bed, took a photo, and contacted the police. Officers arrived within minutes to recover the weapons safely.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed the bag belonged to a member of Sadiq Khan’s security detail. Following the incident, five officers have been suspended from frontline duties while a full internal investigation is conducted.
A Met spokesperson said: “At around 9:40pm, a member of the public found a bag containing Met-issued firearms and a Taser on a South London street and called police. Officers arrived within seven minutes and safely recovered the items. We are urgently reviewing this incident, which is believed to be the result of it being misplaced by on-duty officers shortly before the discovery. Five officers have been removed from frontline duties pending enquiry.”
This security lapse raises serious concerns about the handling of firearms by the Mayor’s protection team. The incident could have led to dangerous consequences if the weapons had fallen into the wrong hands.
Questions are being asked about the necessity and management of such heavy security measures around the Mayor, especially compared to other political figures who have travelled without armed protection.
The investigation is ongoing, and further disciplinary actions are expected as the full facts emerge.
Originally published by UKNIP.
