Eighty guns have been seized

In the past five months, Operation Stealth has resulted in the seizure of 80 firearms and drugs worth �450,000.

Police have also made 243 arrests and recovered �180,000 worth of stolen property.

Chief Superintendent Richard Johnson, from Nottinghamshire police, said: "There was a man jailed for seven years last week for a shooting at Broxtowe where another man had been shot in the shoulder.

"People who are carrying firearms in the city, when we actually find them before they have even got to the stage of using them or threaten to do so, are being locked up for three and four years."

Help from the public was playing a crucial role in the operation's success, he said.

"We can't do this without the public support and the mandate we got from them towards the back end of last year at public meetings, telling us we've got to do something about it."