POLICE have found two firearms in bushes next to a luxury housing development as part of an investigation into gangland crime in Glasgow.
The find was made in undergrowth close to Branklyn Court, a modern development of flats, in the Anniesland area of the city's west end on Tuesday afternoon.
It came four days after armed police swooped on a car in an operation linked to alleged gangland crime in nearby Great Western Road.
The weapons were found close to Knightswood Secondary School, and specialist officers were in the area yesterday carrying out searches. A police spokesman said: "As part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of serious and organised crime, officers from the Police Scotland's Serious Crime Division, assisted by divisional resources, have recovered firearms in the Anniesland area of Glasgow."
Local SNP councillor Malcolm Balfour raised worries over the timing of the find ahead of today's independence referendum.
Knightswood Secondary is not being used as a polling station, although another nearby school is. Mr Balfour said: "It is a bit worrying considering what's happening today. There has been a lot in the press about intimidation. Although I doubt it has anything to do with that, there is always that worry."
Mr Balfour said it would be a shock to the community.
He said: "That part of Knightswood is usually relatively quiet. But I have every confidence the police will find out wherever these firearms have come from. The staff and security at the school are excellent, I wouldn't think there was any threat to the school."
Police say the area where the guns were discovered is used by dog-walkers, as well as runners and they have appealed for anyone with information to get in touch.
On Friday, police marksmen and a helicopter were used as a vehicle in the Kelvinbridge area was seized and searched in relation to potential organised crime.
There were no arrests, but inquiries are continuing.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article