Police say they may have prevented a fatal shooting after finding a revolver and live ammunition in a flat in De Beauvoir.

Officers from Hackney’s proactive firearms unit, Operation Bantam, raided an address in Lancresse Court, Whitmore Road, this morning (Thursday) in drugs crackdown.

They discovered a converted 38 Brocock revolver containing two factory-made bullets in its chamber - one was a ‘flat head’ or ‘dum dum’ bullet, which expands on impact causing extensive internal injuries.

Also recovered was a CS gas canister and a quantity of cannabis.

Two men aged 22 and 24 years old along with a 40-year-old woman were arrested at the scene on suspicion of firearms offices and possession with intent to supply class B drugs.

DS John Farrell, of Operation Bantam, said: “Weapons and ammunition such as those seized today have the potential to cause death and serious injury . This result is yet another indication of ours and the local authority’s commitment to making the borough a safer place by removing firearms from our streets.”