One gun is being seized in London every day as gangs fuel a ‘vicious cycle’ of drugs-related violence, a Met commander warned today – as footage emerged showing officers finding a loaded weapon in a child’s drawer. 

Cdr Paul Brogden said more than half of shootings in the capital are related to drugs gangs or organised crime, with firearms being used to take out rivals or threaten people who owe money. 

Danny Butler, 44, an armourer for a gang in Lambeth, was recently sentenced to 18 years in prison after police found two handguns – one loaded – alongside a sawn-off shotgun and a ‘large amount of ammunition’ in a drawer containing children’s clothes.

Officers discovered three more guns in the house Butler shared with his wife and three daughters, including a 18-month-old toddler. Drugs were also seen littered on the floor of their living room in easy reach of the children. 

The latest ONS figures show a rise in firearms offences in London, from 1,009 in the 12 months ending December 2022 to 1,208 offences in the same period last year, and several high profile incidents over recent months have caused public concern.

Police found several guns hidden in the home of Danny Butler, 44, an armourer for a gang in Lambeth 

A loaded handgun was found during a police raid hidden inside a child’s sock drawer 

Footage of armed officers bursting into Butler’s flat

In May, a nine-year-old girl was left fighting for her life after being hit in the head by a stray bullet fired towards a restaurant in Dalston, while in April a 21-year-old man was shot dead opposite millionaires’ mews houses in Kensington. 

In March, two women in a Clapham pub were hit by shotgun pellets as a moped rider was being pursued by police, and in January 2023 four women and two children were hurt when a sawn off shotgun was fired into a crowd attending a memorial service in Euston. 

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The proportion of shootings investigated by the Met that end with an offender facing prosecution has hit 52 per cent, which is the highest rate in 11 years, but that still leaves 48 per cent unsolved.

Detectives believe this is partly due to fear preventing witnesses coming forward or sharing vital evidence including doorbell footage, and the fact that some victims want to get revenge themselves rather than co-operate with the police.

Commander Paul Brogden said: ‘It comes down to trust within our communities, we need the communities to trust us with evidence, trust us with handling Ring doorbell footage, CCTV access.

‘People are worried, people are frightened, victims are frightened and often are reluctant to come forward. We encourage them to trust us, we will keep them safe.

‘While our outcome rates have improved, there are 48% that we haven’t managed to solve.’

Butler, 44 was sentenced last month to 18 years in prison

A sawn-off shotgun recovered in the raid on the home Butler shared with his wife and three daughters 

Other weapons, including this handgun, where also recovered 

The latest ONS figures show a rise in firearms offences in London, from 1,009 in the 12 months ending December 2022 to 1,208 offences in the same period last year – although over the longer term there is a downward trend 

He said the Met was ‘not complacent’ and is ‘doubling its efforts’ to tackle a ‘vicious cycle of violence’ in the city, adding that guns are most often used by gangs to peddle drugs, enforce debt and control territories.

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Last year, 386 firearms were seized in the city by officers, including Scorpion sub-machine guns. 

Commander Brogden told the BBC that gun crime was being fuelled by a ‘vicious cycle of violence, involving money, drugs and firearms’.

But the Met says the number of incidents where a gun is fired, termed lethal barrelled discharges, is at its lowest for 15 years, having dropped from 196 to 145 since March 2023.

Firearm killings have also fallen year on year for the last three years – from 12 in 2021/22 to 10 in 2022/23, eight in 2023/24, and there have been two so far this year.

An increasing proportion of the shootings that do occur involve converted blank firearms, originally designed for non-lethal purposes such as bird-scaring, that are converted into deadly weapons.

Around 46 per cent of the 386 weapons seized by the Met last year were converted blank firers.

In May, a nine-year-old girl was left fighting for her life after being hit in the head by a stray bullet fired towards a restaurant in Dalston 

Evin restaurant on Kingsland High Street after the shooting 

Gang links are a key line of inquiry in the shooting of a nine-year-old girl in Dalston last month, who was left critically ill in hospital after she was caught in a hail of bullets while out for dinner with her parents.

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The youngster was eating dinner at a restaurant when a motorcyclist fired shots towards the building at around 9.20pm on Wednesday, May 29. 

Three men aged 37, 42 and 44 sitting outside the restaurant were also shot, but have since been discharged.

Detectives believe the attack in Hackney was pre-planned and they are investigating a potential link to Turkish ‘organised criminal networks’.

The injured trio are said to be part of the Hackney ‘Bombacilar’ (Bombers) gang, also known as the ‘Bom Bom’ or Hackney Turks, who have been engaged in a ‘medieval turf war’ — the words of a judge — with the neighbouring Tottenham Turks for the past 15 years. 

One of the Tottenham Turks former leaders was Hayri Goztas, who behind the facade of a hardworking cafe owner in Green Lanes, north London was the ‘godfather’ of one of Britain’s biggest drug smuggling operations. He was known as ‘Aga’ or Turkish for leader.

In March, two women in a Clapham pub were hit by shotgun pellets as a moped rider was being pursued by police. Pictured is an officer walking past the weapon 

A close up view of the weapon (left) and a bullet hole in the window of the Belle Vue pub  

in April a 21-year-old man was shot dead opposite millionaires’ mews houses in Kensington 

In 2012 he was convicted to 16 years imprisonment for importing up to £1 million worth of heroin per week following a National Crime Squad undercover operation. Despite a judge ordering that he be deported after his sentence, Turkish community sources claim that he has now been released and remains in the UK. 

Another leader, Kemal Eren who is nicknamed Parmaksiz, which means ‘No Fingers’ in Turkish fled the UK in 2012 after the killing of another Bombacilar mobster.

Meanwhile, another Tottenham Turks senior leader, Izzet Eren, was arrested in Moldova two years ago after absconding from prison in Turkey. Eren was jailed for 21 years in 2015 for firearms offences in London – but had been transferred to a prison in Turkey in 2019.

The cycle of violence saw senior figures from both mobs being targeted. Tottenham Turks members shot and killed Ali Armagan in 2012, a high ranking Bombacilar’s member as he sat in his in his custom-built Audi A8 limousine outside Turnpike Lane underground station.

Just weeks prior, Zafer Eren, 34, who had links with the Tottenham Turks gang, was shot dead in Southgate, north London.

The latest victim of gun crime in London was Sebastiaan James-Kraan, 20, who died in hospital on June 12, three days after being shot in Ealing. He was described as ‘kind and gentle’ 

The latest victim of gun crime in London was Sebastiaan James-Kraan, 20, who died in hospital on June 12, three days after being shot in Ealing. 

The Met believe Mr James-Kraan was involved in an altercation with a group of men before he was shot.

Police were called to reports of a shooting at around 2.10am on June 9 and have since launched a murder investigation led by homicide detectives.

In a statement paying tribute to the victim, his family said: ‘Sebastiaan James-Kraan was cruelly taken away from his family at such a young age.

‘He was a kind, loving, gentle man with a beautiful soul who will be greatly missed by his loving family and many friends. A gentle giant with a heart of pure gold.

• No arrests have been made and anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 or post on X @MetCC, ref 807/09Jun.