Armed police guarding London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan have been accused of a major security gaffe after leaving a holdall full of guns on the kerb outside his home.
Five officers are believed to have mistakenly abandoned the bag outside the property in Clapham, south London, at about 9.30pm on Tuesday.
The blunder came on the same evening as a large-scale riot on the borough’s high street, which was swarmed by a gang of feral youths.
The chaos, which saw teens light fires, terrorise bystanders and even confront police officers, happened just a short distance from the Labour mayor’s family home.
A pregnant passer-by spotted the piece of luggage at the roadside and immediately became suspicious.
She took a risk and kicked it to see what it might be – but finding it was unusually heavy, she went home to ask her partner Jordan Griffiths for help.
He returned with her to where the bag was and took it home to investigate further, initially thinking its weight might mean it was full of coins.
The scaffolder looked inside, where he found an MP5 semi-automatic Heckler & Koch carbine, a Glock pistol, Taser and bullets.
Five officers are believed to have mistakenly abandoned the bag outside the property belonging to the Labour mayor (pictured walking near his home) in Clapham, south London, at around 9.30pm on Tuesday
The blunder came on the same evening as a large-scale riot (pictured) on the borough’s high street, which was swarmed by an enormous gang of feral youths
‘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 said.
‘I couldn’t believe my eyes.’
He added: ‘I hate to think what might have happened if any of the people in Clapham had found that bag. It could have been mayhem.’
Mr Griffiths laid the guns out on his bed and took a picture of them with his phone before calling the police, who turned up in minutes to collect them.
The officers were ‘shocked’ to see the weaponry, he explained, and looked through the bag carefully before hurriedly taking it away.
The cops told him the luggage had been left by one of Sir Sadiq’s security officers.
And when Mr Griffiths asked if there might be a reward for finding the guns, they said they would give him ‘a bag of sweets’.
Loose in the holdall was the American-made semi-automatic Heckler & Koch MP5SF A3 rifle, which fires up to 800 rounds a minute.
The Taser stun gun, which can hit targets with 50,000 volts, was in a nylon holster.
The Austrian Glock 17 pistol, fitted with at least ten rounds, was stored in a leather holster.
The Metropolitan Police’s directorate of professional standards is investigating the incident.
The five armed protection officers have been temporarily suspended from frontline duties until a conclusion is reached.
Sources have questioned how the bag of weapons came to be removed from Sir Sadiq’s home and abandoned in the street.
One former Met firearms officer admitted police officers are only human and can make mistakes.
They confessed, for instance, to knowing of an incident whereby a Special Forces operator has left their pistol in the toilets of a motorway service station.
But the insider said an error such as that made by Sir Sadiq’s protection team should have repercussions.
Loose in the holdall was the American-made semi-automatic Heckler & Koch MP5SF A3 rifle (pictured, file photo), which fires up to 800 rounds a minute
Retired detective chief inspector Mick Neville said gun crime is common in south London – and ‘too many villains would have been very pleased’ to find the holdall.
He said though the Met was lucky the people who found it handed it in – as it could otherwise have resulted in a crime facilitated by a police-issued weapon.
Mr Neville emphasised, however, that even with highly professional police firearms officers, who work hard to protect the public, rare mistakes do happen.
Sir Sadiq was given 24-hour armed protection by a team of some 15 officers after receiving repeated threats to his safety.
The married father-of-two revealed the formidable security arrangements at a Labour Party conference fringe meeting in 2021.
He said he needs the protection because of the ‘colour of his skin and the god he worships’ and the threat to him was ‘tough’ on his family.
A spokesperson for the Met said: ‘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.
‘Within seven minutes of the call officers arrived at the scene and safely recovered the items.
‘We are urgently reviewing the circumstances of this incident and recognise the concern it may cause.
‘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.
‘An internal review was immediately launched into the circumstances.
‘Five officers have been removed from frontline duties while these enquiries remain ongoing.’
The Metropolitan Police has been contacted for comment.
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: ‘This is a very serious incident, which has been referred to the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards.
‘The Met must now take all steps to ensure an incident like this never occurs again.’
Crime in London has soared since Sir Sadiq came to power despite his claims the capital is a ‘safe city’, figures have shown.
The mayor, who succeeded Boris Johnson in 2016 and was re-elected in 2021 and 2024, this week urged British diplomats around the world to challenge ‘disinformation and lies’ about the capital, amplified by Donald Trump.
It comes as teen flash mobs (pictured) wrought havoc in Clapham this week, with feral youths tearing through the streets in a series of Easter holiday rampages
He admitted the capital, which has been dubbed ‘Lawless London’, was not perfect but defiantly insisted it remains a ‘safe city’ – and more so than major US cities.
But in the year to March 2025, police recorded some 1,116 offences involving firearms in the capital alone.
Across the nation, 32 people were killed by a licensed or unlicensed gun in the same 12-month period.
M&S retail director Thinus Keeve has blamed the mayor for failing to tackle crime in the wake of this week’s Clapham mobbing, mere streets from Sir Sadiq’s home.
‘I keep hearing crime is falling, especially in London – something none of us believes, and very few people working in retail would see,’ Mr Keeve said.
‘It is worse in London, but it is happening across the country, and it is becoming routine because it seems there are no consequences.
‘Without a government seriously cracking down on crime and a mayor who prioritises effective policing, we are powerless.’
He said he had written to Sir Sadiq to urge him to funnel more funding to the police amid a wave of crime committed in his own stores too.
M&S chief executive Stuart Machin has also written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.
It comes as teen flash mobs wrought havoc in Clapham this week, with feral youths tearing through the streets in a series of Easter holiday rampages.
Staff working on the bustling high street described having to lock their doors early as children ran amok on Saturday and Tuesday.
And with weeks of the holidays still to go, it seems we have only seen the start of this surge in youth disorder.
Answering a call to cause chaos which first spawned on social media last week, scheming teens are believed to already be plotting their next mob action.
The shady underworld organising the disruptions has shifted to more secretive group chats, hidden away from the public eye.
Frenzied ‘link ups’ over the past few days were first arranged using a digital flyer on Snapchat.
It read: ‘Clapham Courts return link up 2026…Let’s bring back courts for summer from now!!!! Saturday 28 March – 2pm till late.’
At the bottom of the flyer, a line encouraged attendees to bring their own balloons – often used to consume laughing gas – as well as cannabis, Metro reported.
Messages on a leaked Snapchat group chat reveal the planning that went into the Clapham flash mob and the potential for further meet-ups.
Users exchange texts telling each other how excited they are for the flash mob, with one boasting: ‘If I’m dere police are gna be da 1 dats running.’
The group chat then goes on to discuss the chances of getting caught following the disruption with one participant asking: ‘Am I cooked?’
Concocting plans for how to escape police action, one says: ‘Tell them the police are racist.’
Burgess Park and Crystal Palace Park in south London are touted as possible locations for the next ‘link up’.
‘Crystal Palace Park is a shout,’ one person says.
‘Bc [Because] it’s too big for police to swarm it, plus there’s only one entrance police can come through and it’s all the way at the back.’
Another adds: ‘Burgess is too big for anyone to get bagged and there’s bare [lots of] exits.’
