A senior police officer has slammed the gunman who dumped an arms cache on land where children play. The haul included live grenades, five guns, and a German anti-tank missile from the Second World War.
The stash was discovered on Kersal Moor in Salford after GMP received intelligence and mounted a search on Friday last week. A number of residents had to be evacuated and a bomb disposal unit carried out a controlled explosion of five grenades and a Panzerfaust anti-tank grenade.
Also found was a rifle, sawn-off shotgun, and three handguns. Detective Inspector Simon Akker, of GMP's Serious And Organised Firearms Investigation Team, said: "The recklessness of the person who has left these items on land where children make dens and dog walkers go is beyond belief."
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He added: "My biggest concern as soon as I received the information was we had to act really quickly to make sure no one came across these. When we did the search we saw children's dens on the moor.
"It was an area you could see there were lots of dog walkers, kids playing. That sent a chill down my spine - the possibility of someone getting hold of one of these grenades, not knowing its capability, and something horrendous happening."
GMP received a tip off on Thursday and launched a search the next day. All of the weapons were found together in one location on the moorland. One theory is that they may have been left by someone reacting to GMP's weapons surrender held last week, but an organised crime link has not been ruled out either.
DI Akker said: "Because of the information we had I knew we would have to plan an open land search of Kersal Moor. We have recovered five firearms, a sawn-off shotgun, a bolt-action rifle, and three handguns, one looking like a Glock, but it isn't; a revolver, and an antique firearm. They were all in very poor condition. "
Asked if the guns were viable, he said: "Potentially in their original form. We will need to get them expertly analysed as corrosion has made it impossible to say on visual examination, we need them to be scientifically examined by NABIS (the National Ballistics Intelligence Service). Along with the firearms there were bullets and shot-gun cartridges.
"We had five hand grenades and a World War Two anti-tank grenade. The grenades would have caused devastating injuries had they got into the wrong hands and been activated. They were taken to an area of Kersal Moor by the Army detonated in two controlled explosions.
"When you look at the firearms I would be astonished if any of them could be made to work, so perhaps someone just wanted rid of those. If you look at the devastation the grenades could cause, if you are caught with those, the sentence for being in possession of those, is a lot of prison time. Perhaps someone didn't want this stash anymore and it was too hot to handle.
"We don't have tanks rolling around, so what someone would think they need an anti-tank weapon for I don't know. You can't rob a bank with that. I don't consider this to be a terrorist incident. Obviously I will be sharing everything we have got with the counter-terror policing world.
"There is nothing to suggest this is linked to terror groups. I appreciate the sensitivities within the community there. A lot of people from the Jewish community, will be surprised and a little bit scared about what has been recovered. This is surprising to police too to recover something of this nature."
Police are pursuing a number of theories as to why the arsenal was dumped. "I think we would be amiss to rule out the organised crime aspect as a possibility. Reflecting on my experience, working in GMP for 25 years, I think organised crime is perhaps the most likely hypothesis. You look at the destabilising of certain European countries over the last few decades, and these things can teach criminal hands."
Operation Aztec, an opportunity for people to surrender guns in Greater Manchester ended on Sunday. Individuals who handed firearms over to the police would be protected from prosecution at the moment they gave them up. If the firearm had been used before it would still generate an investigation.
"This incident was not done using the mechanism that Operation Aztec would provide. The person wishing to surrender the guns is a hypothesis, but the procedure wasn't followed. Whoever put those items there was so dangerously reckless, it beggars belief really. We could have seen casualties with the damage to human bodies devastating."
Police believe what they found on the moor is the entirety of what intelligence suggested was there. Open land searches have been deployed several times in Salford when tracking down hidden weapons, with both guns and ammunition being recovered previously in the Kersal and Higher Broughton area in woodland.
DI Akker said: "I would appeal to the public to keep giving us information which helps remove firearms from the street. And if anyone has information about who these weapons were originally possessed by then please contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111."
