10,000 arrests for knife crime

POLICE have arrested more than 10,000 people in London and seized more than 5,000 knives since starting a crackdown on bladed crime in the capital following the election of Boris Johnson as mayor in May last year.

Scotland Yard said serious knife injuries to teenagers had fallen by a third over the past 12 months and youth knife crime in the capital was down by 9%.

It said nearly 290,000 searches conducted as part of Operation Blunt 2 had led to 10,266 arrests and the confiscation of 5,480 knives.