Met launches knife crime clampdown after spate of stabbings over weekend

Scotland Yard launched a new drive against knife crime in London this week after a spate of stabbings over the weekend.

Police are to stage a week-long drive against gangs and people who carry knives with weapon sweeps, more stop and search action and targeted operations against known knife criminals.

The action comes after a 25-year-old man was stabbed in North Road, Richmond in the early hours of Saturday morning and remains in hospital in a critical condition. A man in his 30s was seriously injured after being stabbed on Kingsland High Road early yesterday.

The long planned Met drive, phase seven of Operation Sceptre, will run until Sunday, January 29.

Detective Chief Superintendent Kevin Southworth, Head of the Met’s Trident Command, said: “Too many lives have been lost to knife crime and too many families devastated by grief.”

Police carried out 5,791 weapon sweeps and recovered more than 1,435 weapons in previous weeks of action.

More than 2,294 people were arrested, including 473 for possessing a knife or offensive weapon.