ABERGAVENNY topped the table for the most guns and ammunition handed in during a two-week weapon amnesty held by Gwent Police as part of a nationwide surrender of firearms which ended on Monday.

In the Gwent force area, Abergavenny had most surrenders with twenty-six followed by Blackwood with eighteen and Cwmbran with sixteen.

Surrenders included forty-one lots of ammunition, including four hundred and fifty shotgun cartridges and over a hundred and fifty 9mm pistol rounds; forty-one lethal firearms including eighteen shotguns, fourteen pistols, five rifles and four revolvers.

Seventeen air weapons were surrendered eight rifles, eight pistols and a gas gun. In addition there were two BB Guns, three starting pistols and a replica 8mm Pistol. There were also four realistic-looking toy guns.

Superintendent Glyn Fernquest said, ‘I would like to thank the public for the support during this two week campaign. We had a fantastic response this year and as result there are 41 less firearms out there with the potential to end up in the wrong hands.’

‘We had both interesting and dangerous items handed in. A MG42 machine gun used in World War II was certainly a surprise; however it poses much less risk than some of the other items handed in.

‘The easily concealed Smith and Wesson 9mm pistol, which has been illegal in the UK for over twenty years, and the hundred and fifty rounds of accompanying ammunition that someone found in their shed, could have had devastating consequences if they had ended up in criminal hands.

“Thankfully it is now in our possession and it will be destroyed.

“I would ask anyone who has a firearm they would like to dispose of, or who knows of someone in possession of an illegal firearm, to contact us.

‘If you are unsure as to whether or not the item is loaded or safe to transport, please let us know and we can send an officer to you. One well-meaning individual put themselves in danger when they drove to one of our stations to surrender a revolver that was loaded’.

During the surrender, members of the public were urged to surrender any unwanted, unused or unlicensed firearms at a designated number of stations throughout Gwent.

At the point of surrender, the owners did not face prosecution for the illegal possession. Surrendered firearms will now under go forensic testing by specialist officers in order to determine whether they have previously been used in criminal acts.