Knives removed from the streets of Wigan to be crushed as part of mission against youth violence

Countless weapons have been seized or surrendered across the force area during amnesties, including ones in Wigan.

And it has led to knives of all shapes and sizes disposed of at ascrap metal compound, where most weapons crushed.

Many blades are held in innocence or ignorance of their illegality and the Forever Amnesty gives members of the public the opportunity to dispose of a knife anonymously with zero questions asked, by simply disposing of it at their local police station. Those surrendering knives are not required to give any personal details and will not face prosecution for carrying them.

At the beginning of the 2020, GMP launched the Forever Amnesty following the overwhelming success of September 2019's knife amnesty, and in further efforts to reduce knife crime across Greater Manchester.

A total of 20 drums were filled this month with approximately 3,000 knives which were recovered over a number of years and then mangled into tiny metal chunks in nearby Openshaw. They were then melted and recycled appropriately.

Sgt Paul Heap from GMP’s Operation Venture team who organised the destruction of the knives said: “This action is vital in our attempt to remove knives from our streets and show an impactful stance to knife crime.

“Each one disposed of is one less that can be used in crime or to inflict serious injury and the amount recovered further shows the use and importance of these amnesty bins which continue to remain in places across a variety of locations in each district across Greater Manchester.

“This is an opportunity to remind everyone of the importance of using these bins to ensure we all play a part in keeping our communities safe.”

We all need to work together to combat knife crime and GMP urges anyone with information about knife crime in their local community to report it.

You can report knife crime by calling 101 or 999 in an emergency. You can also make a report via GP’s website: www.gmp.police.uk

To report anonymously, call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or via the website: www.Fearless.org