Braintree police dealt with four incidents involving illegal firearms or ammunition in the last year.

This is a decrease from five incidents in 2012-13 and again in 2011-2012, according to figures released to the Times after a Freedom of Information request.

The data showed that between October 2013 and 2014, officers dealt with a person who possessed an air weapon and a shotgun - an offence which can be prosecuted at the crown court - and two other people who were possessing or distributing pepper spray, which is a prohibited weapon.

Another incident involved a person having a hand grenade without holding a firearm certificate.

Essex Police would not give out information relating to the outcome of each incident in case it affected an investigation.

In the two years previously officers found two people with a stun gun, three people with pepper spray, one with ammunition and another with an unexploded bomb from the Second World War.

See the Braintree and Witham Times for the full story.