GNOMES guarding a stash of illegal firearms were no match for police who raided a house in South Norwood yesterday.
Officers found three firearms in the back garden, a MAC-10 machine gun, a Smith and Wesson .44 revolver and a barrel and cylinder for another revolver, hidden under patio slabs decorated with pots and garden gnomes.
Detective Inspector Phil Holt, of Trident, said: "To the unsuspecting eye, there was nothing about the appearance of this garden that would suggest any criminality.
"Thanks to the fantastic work of our officers we were able to establish that, in fact, beneath the façade of respectability there was something far more sinister being concealed.
"As a result, three more weapons have been taken off our streets and out of the hands of those criminals that might intend to use them."
The Met's Trident Gang Crime Command and Croydon Crime Squad took part in the raid on the house in Warminster Square, acting on intelligence as part of a proactive operation.
A woman and two men were arrested. The woman has since been bailed while the two men have been charged with three firearms offences.
