One year ago today, it was reported that illegal firearms were handed into Cheshire Police following a campaign.
It came as the force joined the National Crime Agency in supporting an amnesty operation to prevent Top-Venting Blank-Firing firearms (TVBF), that can easily be converted into lethal weapons, from falling into the hands of criminals.
In their original and legal state, TVBFs have a fully blocked barrel designed to discharge only blank cartridges.
However, recent testing from the National Crime Agency has found that TVBF brands Retay, Ekol, Ceonic and Blow can easily be converted with household tools into lethal weapons and have been responsible for at least four murders across the UK in recent years.
Even in cases where the weapons have not been converted, they have been used in relation to crime, with many of the weapons that have fallen into the hands of criminals having had their typically bright-coloured exteriors painted black to imitate real firearms.
Following the conclusion of the amnesty, TVBFs were now illegal to possess in England and Wales.
In Cheshire, several of these now-illegal firearms were handed into police, including:
- Four Retay handguns handed in at Crewe police station
- One Retay handgun handed in at Wilmslow police station
- One Retay handgun handed over to officers at Blacon police station
The weapons were made safe by specialist officers within the Constabulary and were set to be destroyed, permanently preventing them from falling into the wrong hands.
Superintendent Gareth Wrigley, who led Cheshire's amnesty operation said at the time: “Our officers work around the clock, 365 days a year to disarm and destroy the criminal groups active across our region who feel the need to carry a weapon.
"We are very lucky that, as a county as a whole, Cheshire has some of the lowest rates of gun-related crime in the country, and now that these weapons have been handed over to officers, we have taken further steps to make our streets even safer.
"On a local level, your neighbourhood officers will be continually working with our partner agencies and organisations across the county in providing education surrounding the dangers, rules and regulations of firearms to ensure that gun crime remains low and does not become a prevalent problem for the people of Cheshire in the future.”
This story was first reported on by Lois Dean on March 11, 2025.
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