A treasure hunter with a metal detector found a haul of five handguns as he walked along the foreshore of the Thames.

The man uncovered the weapons as he walked along the south side of the river near Blackfriars Bridge at low tide.

The guns, along with ammunition, were wrapped inside a bag and appear to have been deliberately buried in the sand.

Engineer David Edwards, 33, was passing the scene moments after the discovery.

He said: “I saw loads of officers including firearms officers rushing down to the foreshore, I thought at first they were going to arrest someone but then I saw the guns.

“Some looked as if they had been partially buried. They had clearly been dumped there by someone, but some of them looked relatively new.”

A Met spokesman said officers were called at 11.30 am yesterday to reports that a bag containing guns had been found.

He said: “A member of the public, using a metal detector, had found the weapons on the Thames foreshore outside the South Bank.

“Officers attended and five weapons were recovered. The weapons were pistols, along with ammunition and component parts.

“The weapons are being examined to ascertain their exact nature.”

Police forensic specialists will examine the guns to establish if they have been fired and if they can be linked to any shootings.

Weapons are occasionally found in the river. In 2013 clean-up volunteers in Hammersmith found four handguns, one of which appeared to be loaded.