A 21-year-old London man has been jailed for more than five years following an investigation by the south west regional organised crime unit.

It followed a dawn operation by officers in October last year at the Sherwood Park Road home of Ernest Arthur, who appeared for sentencing at Kingston Crown Court yesterday (Tuesday, May 26).

He had previously admitted possessing the ammunition.

Detectives from Zephyr and colleagues of the Metropolitan Police executed search warrants at a number of addresses on that day in the capital as part of Operation Clarity – an ongoing investigation into fraud and money laundering offences, which had resulted in numerous vulnerable victims in the South West being defrauded out of more than £1m by courier fraudsters.

One of the search warrants was executed at the home of Ernest Arthur at 6am. He was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering.

During a search of the property officers discovered a large quantity of prohibited ammunition and heroin, consisting of:

• 25 x 7.62x25mm bullets

• 79 x 9mm bullets

• 31 x 0.22 long rifle bullets – designed to expand on impact

• 2 x 0.22 long rifle bullets

• 2 x 0.50 bullets – for use in a sniper rifle or machine gun

• 1 x 0.577 bullet

• 2 x 0.44 bullets – designed to expand on impact

• 10 x 0.32 bullets

More than 150 bullets were found, of which 33 are subject to general prohibition under the Firearms Act. Also found were a selection of smoke grenades, flash bangs and flares.

Arthur was charged with possession of firearms, possession of heroin with intent to supply and money-laundering offences.

On May 5 this year he admitted possession of the ammunition.

He was jailed for five years for possession of prohibited ammunition and a further six months for breach of a suspended sentence, which are to run consecutively.

DI Tony Hubbard of Zephyr said: “We are pleased with the result at court today. Custodial sentences for this type of offence can only help to make our streets a safer place.

“This case has illustrated that fraud is not a victimless crime and that those involved are organised criminals involved in a whole array of illegal activity.

“We are committed to tackling organised crime that targets the most vulnerable in our society and will work with our partner agencies to pursue relentlessly, those involved in this abhorrent crime.

“Over the past 12 months victim losses in the South West are in excess of £2m, accounting for some 700 reported crimes, although we suspect many incidents have not been reported to us,” said DI Hubbard.