200 charged as NSW Police mount blitz to get knives off the streets
The increase in knife crimes has VicPol promising a crackdown. Photo: AAP
More than 200 people have been charged in a two-day knife crime blitz across Sydney.
NSW Police seized 37 knives and made 121 drug detections in Operation Saber VI over Thursday and Friday.
Seven hundred officers were deployed across known crime ‘hot spots’, such as licensed premises and transport hubs.
Notable busts included three knives and a stun device found in a Volkswagen Golf in Eastlakes, and three knives and a baseball bat discovered in a Honda sedan in Parramatta.
Police believe the latter vehicle was involved in an assault at Campbelltown earlier that day.
Varied arsenal
When officers searched two teenagers at Parramatta Railway Station they found a knife and an extendable baton.
A replica pistol, grenade, knife and illegal drugs were discovered during a vehicle stop in Carlingford, with police charging a man, 42, with a string of weapons offences.
A woman, 27, in Miranda was arrested after she was found with a knife and drugs, and was subsequently also charged with three outstanding warrants.
Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke said the aim of the operation was to identify and prosecute people who illegally carry knives or weapons in public, and who display anti-social behaviour.
The first Operation Saber was carried out in February 2020 and was such a success it has now been repeated five more times.
“This is continuing to send the message to those involved in anti-social or criminal activity – your behaviour will not be tolerated,” Assistant. Commissioner Cooke said.
“If you choose to misbehave or commit offences, you will end up in the back of a police truck and facing the court.”
During the operation, police also issued 450 move-on directions, 326 transport fines and more than 250 traffic fines.
-AAP