Deadly 3D printed weapons are being traded between gangs, posing a new threat on streets, the National Crime Agency warned.
It comes as the head of MI5 said far-right extremists are increasingly trying to obtain guns or make their own.
Last month, the Met raided a makeshift 3D printed arms factory in North-West London in one of the “largest seizures” of parts for these firearms.
Hybrid guns like the semi-automatic FGC9 can be made in days by combining 3D printed components with metal parts that can be smuggled into the UK or sourced from hardware shops.
One producer in Florida sells metal parts as “windchime” sets to avoid detection for online orders.
Christian Ashwell, head of firearms threat at the NCA, said: “We are seeing the emergence of viable 3D weapons appear in the UK and across Europe, including the sharing of designs online.
“With international partners, while it is still rare, we are seeing hybrid 3D weapons appear in criminal markets.
“The hybrid weapons we are primarily seeing combine 3D printed components with metal parts such as barrels and springs to create them.”
Glenn Lawrence, chief technical officer at firearms and law enforcement consultancy Arquebus Solutions, said the situation has changed significantly in two years.
He added: “There are two categories of 3D guns which have changed that.
“There are hybrid weapons, like the FGC9, and PKC, or part-kit converted firearms, which have bits of real firearms. The hybrid firearms have really come on.
“That’s where the fear is coming from. They look the part, some of them are easy to make.
“The instructions for the new Mark 2 FGC9 are 194 pages long and you can use them to make a gun mostly undetected.”
Florida’s MAF Corporation sells the metal components for the FGC9 and launched its “Floral Goodtime Chime” set for the Mark 2 version last year. FGC is also known as standing for “F*** Gun Control”.
Making 3D weapons in the US is legal.
The factory raided by Met had large numbers of FGC parts.
Commander Paul Brogden believes 3D printed firearms were being made to sell. He said: “This highlights how the emerging threat of 3D firearms continues to evolve.”
Mr Lawrence added: “The PKCs use trigger mechanism components which are harder to obtain in the UK.
“There’s a producer in Florida which makes a windchime set. The idea is it can be imported as a windchime.
“An average person could print a gun and assemble the parts in two or three weeks. But there are organised crime groups setting up factories capable of producing batches of guns every few days. Organised crime are definitely interested in this.”
Mr Lawrence said 3D weapons are being used by top gangs as they “have the look” – even if they do not intend to fire them.
But he warned: “It’s when they bleed into the more chaotic end of the market, that’s where I would be concerned.
“The ballistics signature is very poor to link them.”
The National Ballistics Intelligence Service was set up in 2008 and can link crime scenes through the examination of items such as bullets.
But 3D weapons are proving hard to trace in the same way.
Paul James, Arquebus director and the ex-head of NABIS, said: “The Met are seizing just one of these a year. There undoubtedly are more of these weapons around.
“The more criminally savvy people will see the opportunity to do this on a wholesale basis. A metal 3D printer costs £200,000 but that’s not much money for organised crime.”
MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said his agency was concerned about the rise in far-right attempts to buy “firearms, whether illegally obtained, homemade or 3D printed’.
He warned: “From their bedrooms, individuals are easily able to access right-wing extremist spaces, network with each other and move towards a radical mindset.”
