A pregnant woman’s roadside discovery of a holdall containing semi-automatic rifles, pistols and a Taser outside London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan’s residence has triggered the suspension of five armed protection officers amid a catastrophic security breach investigation.
The Metropolitan Police’s directorate of professional standards launched urgent inquiries after the woman spotted suspicious luggage abandoned on the kerb near the Labour mayor’s Clapham family home at approximately 9.30pm on Tuesday—coinciding with mass youth disorder erupting on the borough’s high street just short distances away.
Her partner Jordan Griffiths described the terrifying moment he opened the bag to discover an American-made Heckler & Koch MP5SF A3 semi-automatic carbine capable of firing 800 rounds per minute alongside an Austrian Glock 17 pistol loaded with at least ten rounds, a 50,000-volt Taser stun gun and ammunition.
“It was lucky one of the guns inside didn’t go off or else she and our baby due next month could have been shot and killed,” Mr Griffiths told the Sun, adding: “I hate to think what might have happened if any of the people in Clapham had found that bag. It could have been mayhem.”
His partner initially kicked the mysterious holdall to assess its contents after becoming suspicious of its placement, but finding it unusually heavy, she recruited Mr Griffiths’ assistance. The scaffolder initially theorised the weight indicated coins before discovering the arsenal when he opened it at home.
Metropolitan Police officers arrived within seven minutes of his call, appearing “shocked” before examining the bag carefully and hurriedly departing with the weaponry. They confirmed the firearms belonged to Sir Sadiq’s security detail, though when Mr Griffiths enquired about potential rewards for recovering the weapons, police jokingly suggested “a bag of sweets.”
Retired detective chief inspector Mick Neville warned that gun crime remains prevalent in south London where “too many villains would have been very pleased” to discover the abandoned arsenal, emphasising the Met was fortunate honest citizens found it rather than criminals who might have deployed police-issued firearms in offences.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson stated: “At around 21:40hrs, a member of the public called police after finding a bag containing Met-issued firearms and a Taser on a street in South London. At this stage it is believed the bag was misplaced by on-duty officers a short time before the member of the public located it.”
Sir Sadiq receives 24-hour armed protection from approximately 15 officers following repeated safety threats, arrangements he attributed during a 2021 Labour conference to “the colour of his skin and the god he worships.”
A mayoral spokesperson described the weapons abandonment as “a very serious incident,” demanding Met assurances “an incident like this never occurs again.”
The five officers remain suspended from frontline duties pending investigation conclusions.
