Bags of bullets and heroin were found in a dawn raid at the home of a £1m fraudster jailed this week.

Ernest Arthur, 21, is behind bars after a cross-county police operation uncovered a £1m courier fraud where a number of vulnerable victims were conned.

A police raid on Arthur’s home in Sherwood Park Road, Mitcham, uncovered more than 150 bullets, some for sniper rifles and machine guns, smoke grenades, flash bangs and flares.

A haul of heroin was also found and Arthur was charged with possession of firearms and heroin with intent to supply and money laundering offences.

On May 5 this year he admitted possession of the ammunition. The drugs and money-laundering offences are to lie on file.

On Tuesday, May 26 he was jailed for five years at Kingston Crown Court for possession of prohibited ammunition and a further six months for breach of a suspended sentence, which are to run consecutively.

The operation was organised by Zephyr – the south west England regional organised crime unit and the Metropolitan Police.

Detectives from Zephyr and colleagues of the Met executed search warrants at a number of addresses in the capital as part of Operation Clarity – an ongoing investigation into fraud and money laundering offences.

Police said it has resulted in numerous vulnerable victims in the south west of England being defrauded out of more than £1m by courier fraudsters.

DI Tony Hubbard of Zephyr said: “Custodial sentences for this type of offence can only help to make our streets a safer place.

“This case has illustrated that fraud is not a victimless crime and that those involved are organised criminals involved in a whole array of illegal activity.

“Over the past 12 months victim losses in the South West are in excess of £2m, accounting for some 700 reported crimes, although we suspect many incidents have not been reported to us.”