Police arrest 1,214 in London knife crackdown

London: More than 1,000 people have been arrested on the streets of London in a six-week anti-knife operation, it was announced on Wednesday.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police have carried out 26,777 stop and searches and recovered 528 weapons as part of Operation Blunt Two, which made a total of 1,214, arrests. The results were released after the murder last Sunday of GCSE student Ben Kinsella, the 17th teenager killed in the capital this year.

Boris Johnson announced the progress of Operation Blunt Two with Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair yesterday and urged parents, siblings and friends to "stop" those youths who they know regularly carry knives.

The Mayor and Sir Ian also discussed their strategy for tackling knife crime - including more long-term measures. Johnson said: "We cannot win this battle alone, we're going to need your support. Two weeks ago a woman in Lewisham discovered a knife under her 17 year-old son's bed. She didn't dither, she didn't despair, she simply contacted police and she did the right thing.

"Now her son is on a local support and diversionary programme, and he's probably been saved from a life of violence and crime.

"The moral of the story is this: if you know someone who has a knife, whether it's your son, your brother, or your friend, take responsibility and tell the police. You might well be saving someone's life."

Operation Blunt Two

Johnson said Operation Blunt Two had led to "numerous success stories" including an east London shopkeeper who handed his stock of 300 lock knives to police and a raid on a bus in south London which recovered 18 weapons and resulted in the arrest of 20 young people.

One senior Met officer said: "We are getting results despite the dreadful murder at the weekend. Operation Blunt is in it for the long term and we will not stop until the murders stop."

Ben Kinsella, 16, was knifed to death when he was caught up in a fight that spilled out of an end-of-term party at an Islington bar early on Sunday.

More than 500 people marched through London in his memory on Tuesday as his family promised to fight knife crime. Actress sister Brooke, 24, and siblings Jade, 22, and Georgia, 14, led the procession - which included many of Ben's friends holding banners asking "Why Ben?" - from Islington Town Hall to the spot outside Shillibeers bar where the teenager died.