Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab’s bodyguard allegedly left his loaded Glock 19 pistol in its holster on a United Airlines flight at Heathrow.
Scotland Yard said an internal investigation is underway and the bodyguard has been “removed from operational duties.”
A cleaner found the loaded Glock and the police boarded the plane, then realised it belongs to the bodyguard, the Sun newspaper reported.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said, “We are aware of the incident on a flight into the UK on Friday 18 September and we are taking this matter extremely seriously.
“The officer involved has since been removed from operational duties whilst an internal investigation into the circumstances is takin
Former Met chief superintendent Nick Aldworth told the BBC Today programme, “This sort of thing is not common, but it does happen.
“It happens because human beings are in the system and human beings operate under an enormous amount of stress sometimes, particularly when they are managing armed operations or in the middle of an armed operation.
“This appears to be an unfortunate lapse in concentration for which the officer will pay a price in their career, in as much as they have been removed from operational duties, which is something they probably love doing, and sadly for them, will no longer be able to do.”