British police said they used pictures posted to Facebook to identify and arrest gang members on firearm possession charges.

South Yorkshire Police said a Sheffield, England, resident in an area with high gang activity discovered pictures of Parson Cross Crew members posing with a shotgun online and created a Facebook group dedicated to identifying those in the photos, The Sun reported Monday.

Police Superintendent Andy Barrs said the photographs led to several arrests.

"We were already aware of some of the pictures but found out about others through the resident's Web site," he said.

Barrs said Joe Brent-Mitchell, 23, and Jamie Howden, 18, were each sentenced to 4 1/2 years in jail on firearm possession charges related to the gun in the photograph, which was never recovered by investigators.