Residents in north east Hampshire have an extra two days to hand in firearms and ammunition as part of an amnesty being run by the police.

Since its launch on Friday, April 2, 57 firearms and 985 rounds of ammunition have been handed in at the nine stations taking part.

The amnesty was due to finish on Friday, April 16 but has now been extended until Friday, April 18 due to the success so far.

Chief Superintendent Mark Chatterton, Commander of the North and East Operational Command Unit, said: “We launched this amnesty in response to community concerns about gun ownership and a lack of knowledge about handing firearms in and we have seen a really good response so far.

“This is not about violent crime; in fact Hampshire Constabulary is rated excellent at suppressing gun crime in the police report card. We are fortunate to live and work in a very safe place and in the last year there were only 26 incidents across the whole of north east Hampshire where a gun was reported to have been involved in a crime against a person.

“As we anticipated, a large number of the weapons handed in so far are BB guns or imitation firearms. Almost 70 per cent of all incidents that our firearms officers attend involve knives and imitation firearms and one hour of policing a firearms incident costs the equivalent of 27 hours of local beat policing.

“Some of the guns that we seize are so realistic that a firearms officer would not immediately be able to decide if it were real, and therefore have to treat every gun incident as if the weapon is real.

“I am pleased that people have walked into the police station and handed these weapons in so they do not end up being used in a crime. I would urge anyone who has a firearm or ammunition that they shouldn’t have to take advantage of these extra few days and hand it in.”