This iPhone-style stun gun is five times more powerful than a Taser

A stun gun that looks just like an iPhone is the latest must-have lethal weapon in the underworld and is five times more powerful than a Taser.

Modelled on the popular Apple handset, the device discharges its powerful shock from two metal pin points at the top, fired by what is normally the volume buttons, the Mirror reported.

Sources said that getting hold of these stun guns was easy as there were plenty of websites out there offering them for sale and most of them were based in China, Germany and the US. They also said that if a parcel containing one is X-rayed, it looked just like an iPhone because the dimensions were the same and there was nothing inside one which would stand out as suspicious.

The underworld source, based in Warrington, Cheshire, said the stun guns were often used by criminal gangs on rivals, paralysing a victim's muscles, causing momentary agony while not leaving any visible scar.

The devices are in demand on the streets of Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds as they can be bought online from abroad for just £100.