A 13-year-old boy with alleged links to gang crime has been arrested after an assassin’s kit of a gun, silencers and a supply of ammunition was found hidden in his house.

Detectives from the Scotland Yard Central Task Force searched the boy’s home in New Cross, southeast London, and found a 9mm Baikal pistol, two silencers for the gun and a bag of about twenty 9mm cartridges wrapped in a sock in the stairwell.

The boy was being questioned yesterday at the nearby Lewisham police station. The weapon will undergo scientific examination to see whether it is connected to any shootings.

The Baikal, produced in Eastern Europe, is now a common choice for gang members in Britain. It is a small, snub, black handgun that looks almost like a toy and weighs only 2lb (900g).It is relatively easy to buy one for about £2,500, and criminals like it because of its accuracy.

The weapons start life in Izhevsk, Russia, where they are made for firing teargas pellets and sell for about £20. They are converted to fire live bullets in Lithuania for £140 and smuggled into Britain via Dover.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Beyer, head of the Central Task Force (West), said: “It is deeply concerning that we have a found a child of this age with a weapon that we believe is capable of firing.

“We will continue to target anyone who is under the misapprehension that carrying a gun is a good idea. It isn’t – it puts the carrier more at risk of death, injury or arrest.

“Having a gun, even if it isn’t used in a shooting or crime, is being dealt with incredibly seriously by the Met Police.” Senior officers believe that the boy could be one of the youngest people to have been caught with a firearm in London.

A Baikal was used to kill James Andre Smartt-Ford, 16, at Streatham Ice Arena, South London, in February last year, and Philip Poru, 18, was shot dead with a Baikal while sitting in his car with a friend in Plumstead, southeast London, in October.

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