East Area Gang Unit’s proactive work sees male supplying knives and offensive weapons arrested.

On December 19 the culmination of three months of tenacious proactive enquiries saw East Area Gangs Unit conducted a pre-planned operation in partnership with Leicestershire Police targeting a male who has been supplying knives to gang members and other children in east London and across the south of England for a year.

Following on from information shared by Thames Valley Police in September, the Gangs Unit have used a variety of methods to trace and identify a ‘middle-man’ buying dangerous knives from legitimate websites, who was then selling them on to children in London including a number living in Havering, Barking and Dagenham and Redbridge.

A very thorough search by the whole team in difficult conditions yielded 20 exhibits including a firearm, multiple offensive weapons, and other key items relevant to the investigation.

Simultaneously to the executive action, other officers completed an Engagement Day of Action visiting a number of children identified as possible buyers of these knives, in Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge, Southwark, Reading and Luton – speaking to children deemed to be at risk of involvement in knife crime to divert them from offending and help support their parents.

Detective Sergeant James Rush said:“This was a great piece of work by the team, forming just a section of what they’ve been working on over the last few months alongside a number of other proactive operations and reactive investigations. Today’s warrant takes out an individual who has supplied knives we suspect then went on to be used in recent serious youth violence across Barking, Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge and has provided a number of opportunities to safeguard children at risk from this terrible crime type across the south of England. Great job by the whole team.”