Police today urged traders not to sell fake firearms after a 14-year-old boy admitted having a replica gun in Southend.
His appearance in court follows the introduction of new laws outlawing imitation guns, called for by the Echo in a series of campaigns.
Since January it has been an offence to carry a fake gun in public and now Southend police officers are visiting suppliers of imitation weapons to try to persuade them to stop selling them.
The youth was arrested when a member of the public saw him in Park Street, Southend, with the imitation Desert Eagle gun - a semi-automatic weapon which is one of the most powerful handguns in the world.
The weapon can be used to fire ballbearing pellets but was not loaded.
The youth, from Southend, pleaded guilty to having the fake gun in a public place and was sentenced to a three-month action plan, at Southend Youth Court yesterday.
Published Thursday June 10, 2004
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