Over 40 knives recovered following vehicle stop

At around 11.40pm on Thursday 28 May, officers on patrol close to the M6 motorway stopped a red Volkswagen Polo after ANPR enquiries uncovered that the vehicle had been linked to weapons offences.

Police stopped the car at junction 17 and found two occupants in the vehicle, a 19-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman, both from the Birmingham area.

In a subsequent search of the vehicle, several boxes were discovered which contained zombie style knives, knuckledusters and other bladed weapons. In total, more than 40 dangerous blades were found in the vehicle.

The pair were both arrested on suspicion of possession of a bladed article in a public place and possessing offensive weapons for the purpose of sale.

The 19-year-old man has since been eliminated from the investigation, and the 18-year-old woman has been released on conditional bail.

Chief Inspector Joe McNally, Cheshire Constabulary’s Knife Crime Lead, said:

“I’d like to the thank the quick-thinking officers who were on patrol in the area at the time and acted on instinct to pull over the vehicle, leading to this alarming discovery.

“The Constabulary has recently just completed Operation Sceptre, a weeklong national campaign that tackles knife crime in our areas through proactive policing operations and deployments and community engagement - during this week, our officers recovered over 250 weapons from across Cheshire.

“As a result of this stop, a further 40 blades, a combination of zombie knives, machetes and a knuckleduster, are now safely in our possession. These blades will soon be destroyed, permanently preventing possibility of them being used on our streets and falling into the wrong hands.”