'Hitman' held on Gatwick flight

A suspected Mafia hitman has been seized trying to board a flight to London.

Francesco Iavarone, a 39-year-old Italian, was car rying a machine pistol clip containing 20 bullets when he was arrested yesterday at Naples airport as he tried to get on BA 2605 to Gatwick.

Police later raided his home and found an arsenal of weapons, including the one to which the clip belonged.

They believe Iavarone, who has Mafia links, may have been trying to smuggle the Scorpion machine pistol into Britain bit by bit in order to carry out an assassination.