16-year-old arrested in Great Barr after being found with loaded revolver

The teenager was arrested after officers stopped a BMW 1-Series in Old Horns Crescent around midnight last night.

Two other people in the car, the 28-year-old driver and 17-year-old passenger, have also been arrested after a loaded colt pistol, a knife, gloves and a balaclava were all recovered from the sports car.

The car was stopped after officers saw the occupants acting suspiciously.

It is part of a Birmingham-wide crackdown on gang crime by West Midlands Police, with the force seizing six firearms and arresting five people in just 24 hours

The Great Barr arrests follows a dawn raid by the force’s Organised Crime & Gangs Team on yesterday morning that resulted in an 8mm Baikal handgun, 36 rounds of ammunition, and a sawn-off double barrelled shotgun being recovered from a flat in Billesley.

A 47-year-old man has since been charged with possessing guns and bullets.

Armed WMP officers teamed up with the Regional Organised Crime Unit to swoop on an address in Kings Norton yesterday afternoon where they arrested a 26-year-old man and uncovered a revolver and drugs. He is also in police custody for questioning.

Elsewhere, a 26-year-old man was arrested at 2.45pm from an address in Westfield Road, Kings Heath, and a sawn-off shotgun recovered. While another shotgun was seized by police after a member of the public found it at a property in Wood Lane, Erdington.

West Midlands Police Chief Superintendent Rachel Jones said the seizures and arrests send out a strong message to anyone involved in gun crime.

She added: “We’ve taken six viable firearms off the streets of Birmingham in a single day…that’s six less lethal barrelled weapons in the hands of criminals. In all likelihood this work will have prevented serious criminality and potentially a fatal shooting.

“This activity should people in no doubt over our commitment to tackle people who pose the greatest threat to our community. If you have a gun, if you’re storing a gun out of mis-placed loyalty, we will come after you. And there are no excuses; you face many years in jail.

“We are currently supporting a national firearms surrender and I’d encourage anyone in possession of a firearm, or knows where one is being kept, to contact us so that it can be disposed of safely.”