ARMED & DANGEROUS: Man with loaded gun in car injures face after police taser him during search

A MAN was hospitalised after being tasered by police trying to arrest him after a firearm and ammunition were found in the car he was in.

Organised crime detectives stopped the vehicle on Abbey Road, West Hampstead, west London, at about 8.30pm yesterday, October 28, after intelligence suggested that a firearm was in transit.

Officers from the Specialist Crime South proactive team were accompanied by the specialist firearms unit, while a thorough search of the vehicle was undertaken.

A Met Police spokesman said: "They recovered a firearm with ammunition, which was stored in a backpack in the front passenger foot well."

A man, aged 40, and a woman, aged 27, were in the vehicle and were subsequently arrested on suspicion of possession of a firearm.

The spokesman added: "As officers were detaining the man, the use of a Taser became necessary and the tactic was deployed.

"The man was taken to hospital to treat an injury to his face. He has since been discharged and taken into police custody.

"Both of the suspects remain in custody at a north London police station."

Detective Sargent William Peel from the Met’s Specialist Crime South proactive team, said: “When we receive intelligence that someone is in possession of a firearm, we take it extremely seriously as there possess a significant risk to the public and my colleagues. 

“Fortunately, no officers were harmed during this proactive deployment and the recovery of the firearm means we have prevented the weapon from being used on our streets.

“This is another example of the work that our officers are doing day in, day out, to keep London’s communities safe and our streets clear of violence and gun crime.

"Sometimes in order to secure the situation and safely retrieve the firearm we have to use a range of tactics available to us – on this occasion it was a taser.

“No officer wants to have to use this tactic, but in order to keep everyone safe it was deemed necessary on this occasion. The man arrested did not suffer any serious injuries."

Several guns have been seized across London in recent weeks.

Just a day earlier, officers from the same squad on a job in Northolt discovered a loaded firearm during the operation