Police are asking people to hand in illegal and potentially lethal firearms.

Cheshire Police has today, February 3, launched a four-week amnesty campaign in a bid to curb the circulation of Turkish Top-Venting Blank-Firing (TVBF) firearms.

In their original state, TVBFs have a blocked barrel and are designed to discharge blank cartridges.

However, the National Crime Agency has found that they can easily be converted using household tools to dispense lethal cartridges.

As part of the campaign, an amnesty bin has been set up at Macclesfield Police Station on Brunswick Street.

Superintendent Gareth Wrigley said: "Gun crime in the Cheshire, thankfully, is very rare but we are not complacent about gun crime, which is why we are conducting the Turkish Top-Venting Firearms Amnesty after tests have shown they can be readily converted into firearms, therefore making them illegal to possess.

"Surrendering top-venting blank firers manufactured by BLOW, CEONIC, EKOL and RETAY now will help prevent them falling into the wrong hands in the future and being used by criminals. More often than not, the top halves of these firearms come in bright colours such as blue, pink or yellow, so they most definitely cannot be missed.

"We want as many top-venting blank firers as possible to be handed in and I encourage anyone in possession of one to visit their local police station to hand them in. I would also like to reiterate, that anyone who does choose to hand in a TVBF during the amnesty period, will not face prosecution. You can also choose to do this anonymously, so there is no excuse for not disposing of these kinds of firearms.

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"As always, we will be continually working with our partner organisations in educating the people of our county about firearms and the dangers that come with them, to ensure that gun crime doesn't become prevalent in the future."

Since 2021, UK law enforcement has recovered more than 800 converted blank firers, with further research finding at least four were used homicides in the UK in the last two years.

Cheshire Police are asking people to hand in any TVBFs before February 28 to help them avoid prosecution and prevent these pistols from getting into the wrong hands.

Firearms can be handed at the five main Cheshire Police helpdesks across the county, which are all open between 8am and 5pm.

These are located in Macclesfield, Blacon, Crewe, Warrington and Widnes.