The Abington Township Police Department announced that it has seized nine illegal firearms over the last month.
The department noted that the number of illegal firearms being encountered by officers as of late is “at the highest level ever.”
“The majority of the seizures have been the result of our officers being proactive, making traffic stops for various violations and ultimately discovering these illegal firearms,” the department said in a post. “Our officers are being proactive and leading the charge to getting these guns out of the hands of criminals, and off the streets of our community.”
Details of the seizures are below, courtesy of the department:
- One firearm, recovered in the bathroom of a local business, was equipped with a full automatic “switch”. Tests on that gun revealed that it was used in several violent crimes in Philadelphia|
- A “ghost gun” recovered from a vehicle that was stolen from an Abington resident
- A vehicle was stopped for a minor traffic violation. Operator was a convicted felon. Found to be in possession of a handgun with an obliterated serial number, and full auto ‘switch’
- A vehicle was stopped for a minor traffic violation, suspected drug dealer arrested for possessing a loaded firearm
- On 6/9/24 at 1:00 AM, an officer stopped a car for minor traffic violations. Car fled the scene and crashed a short distance down the road. Officers recovered a bag that one of the suspects dropped while running. The bag contained three fully loaded firearms- two with high capacity magazines, one with an auto fire ‘switch’, one that was stolen from a resident in Philadelphia. The suspect who dropped the bag is an 18 year old Philadelphia resident
The announcement follows an article published yesterday by NBC10 titled “Montgomery County police have noticed a trend as more and more illegal guns recovered daily“.
“We’re taking these guns off the streets now, sadly on almost a daily basis,” Lieutenant Steven Fink said.
The story noted that an Abington police officer recently approached a car with dark tinted windows and a tag that came back fraudulent. The car took off and later crashed in Cheltenham Township.
Officials said three young men ditched a backpack with three loaded guns inside.
“All young men under the age of 21, the legal age to carry a firearm,” Fink said. “All three of these handguns were recovered from that backpack. As you can see, extended magazines [and] they were loaded at that time.
Officers have been recovering these guns during minor routine traffic stops, NBC10 said.
“We’re going to continue to stop those cars…you can see what a minor violation can turn into,” Fink said.
Roughly two weeks ago, officers found a ghost gun in the bathroom of a business in Abington Township.
“That gun that was found in the business in Abington was used in two murders and four shootings in Philadelphia,” Fink said.
NBC10’s video coverage is below:
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Screengrab: NBC10