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LONDON - Zombie-style knives, kitchen knives and machetes were among more than 14,500 weapons dropped off in United Kingdom (UK) government-backed amnesty bins since July last year, according to the Home Office, reported PA Media/dpa.
Policing Minister Sarah Jones said each time a knife is surrendered, communities around the country are made "that little bit safer.”
The Home Office has backed 37 surrender bins as part of the scheme in London, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.
It has launched eight new bins, taking the total to 45, in South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, including in Barnsley, Sheffield, Leeds and Wakefield.
Jones said: "Every dangerous weapon that has been surrendered so far is a weapon off our streets and a community made that little bit safer.
"That’s why we’re going further and making it easier for more people in more places to do the right thing and hand over their knives.
"Knife crime is down by 11 per cent since the general election but we will not stop until we meet our commitment of halving knife crime in a decade.”
Figures from the Home Office show overall knife crime is down 11 per cent since the poll in July 2024, with knife-enabled robberies down by 16 per cent. Knife-linked homicides have fallen by 26 per cent.
In addition to the static surrender bins, managed by the charity Word 4 Weapons, a further 783 weapons were handed in at a mobile surrender van run by the organisation Fazamnesty.
Both the bins and the van are operated on a "no questions asked” basis so people can hand over knives without fear of the consequences.
Pooja Kanda, whose son Ronan was yards away from his Wolverhampton home when he was murdered with a ninja sword in 2022, welcomed the milestone.
She said: "I lost my 16-year-old son, Ronan, in a mistaken-identity knife attack. He paid the ultimate price because someone else chose to carry a knife.
"There are no winners in knife crime.”
Kanda campaigned for Ronan’s Law, which included a ban on ninja swords - weapons with a primary straight cutting edge between 35.5-61 centimetres long, and a tanto or reverse tanto-style point.
She added: "As we mark one year since the introduction of Ronan’s Law, this surrender scheme is another important step in preventing dangerous weapons from causing further harm.
"It provides young people, and anyone else carrying a dangerous weapon, with a safe and anonymous opportunity to surrender it.” - BERNAMA
