The Metropolitan Police are offering a reward of up to £10,000 for any information leading to the recovery of 40 MAC 10's and/or the arrest of those involved in offences where these weapons have been used.

The MAC 10's were part of a batch of 90, sold by a company called Sabre Defence to Grant Wilkinson aka 'Gary Wilson'. The guns have been linked to 52 shootings including 9 murders.

Grant Wilkinson has today been found guilty at Reading Crown Court for his role in converting these MAC 10's from 'blank firing' to 'live firing' weapons and then selling them on. This was part of Operation Octane, the discovery and follow up investigation into a gun factory conducted by Thames Valley Police, in close liaison with the Metropolitan Police.

50 MAC 10's from the batch of 90 originally sold, have already been recovered nationally. The Metropolitan Police recovered 35 of these and are actively engaged in trying to trace the remaining 40. Four were also recovered outside of the Met area and 11 were recovered by Thames Valley Police at two sites connected with the gun factory.

The guns are scientifically identifiable due to the conversion process they have undergone at the hands of Grant Wilkinson. In addition to the encouraging the public to report information about any gun to the police, the Metropolitan Police are offering a reward up to £10,000 for any information leading to the recovery of these 40 MAC 10's and / or the arrest of those involved in offences where these weapons have been used.

Detective Superintendent Gary Richardson from Trident, the Met's unit that prevents and investigates shootings in London, said: "These guns have been linked to 52 shootings, including nine murders, eight of which occurred in London. They are extremely dangerous and I would urge anyone who thinks they may have seen one, or knows someone who is hiding one, to tell us and stop more people being hurt."

Claudia Webbe, Chair of the Trident Independent Advisory Group, said: "We can see very clearly the devastating impact of this heinous crime, particularly and disproportionately, although not exclusively, on black communities. Here we have an armoury factory in the suburbs of Berkshire creating deadly weapons that are clearly ending up in the hands of 17, 18, 19 year olds, in inner city urban London.

"The availability of these weapons is clearly fuelling violence on our streets, they have caused devastating shootings, murders and mayhem. We all have a responsibility to keep our community safe and report information about them. So I appeal to anyone who may have information on their location to give that information to police or anonymously to Crimestoppers."

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of these or any other illegal firearm is also urged to contact police on 020 8733 4704