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  "path": "/2026/04/07/find-children-get-hold-knives-london-not-dark-web-27805280/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-07T05:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "News",
    "UK",
    "Crime News",
    "London",
    "Metropolitan Police",
    "crime",
    "volunteer",
    "What I Rent: I pay £2,600pcm for my south London one-bed — here’s what I get for my money",
    "Five officers removed from duty after ‘leaving bag of guns outside Sadiq Khan’s home’",
    "London is getting its first new town centre in 50 years — but at what cost?",
    "London news hub",
    "Princess Charlotte",
    "Knife crime",
    "work",
    "check our news page",
    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source"
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  "textContent": "Teenagers work alongside the Metropolitan Police and Tower Hamlets Trading Standards to find whether certain shopsare willing to sell knives to children (Picture: Justin Griffiths-Williams)\n\nWalking through Bethnal Green, independent corner shops display knives for sale behind their counters.\n\nAlthough knife crime is going down, it is still the weapon of choice for teenagers.\n\nIn the year ending March 2025, 52 young people aged under 25 were murdered with a knife or sharp object. Some 14 of these were aged under 16.\n\nBut vanish the idea that teenagers are buying knives through dubious dark websites.\n\nInstead they are getting them from east London’s corner shops. And, armed with two 16-year-olds, Metro went to see just how easy it is.\n\n## Operation Sceptre\n\nPolice cadets work with officers to help with the purchase tests(Picture: Justin Griffiths-Williams)\n\nAs part of the NPCC’s Operation Sceptre, the Metropolitan Police frequently carry out compliance checks to see who is bothering to ID their customers when they ask for a knife.\n\nToday’s focus area was Bethnal Green, and four shops were on the target list.\n\nThey were already known to police before for either failing previous test purchases or for refusing to sign up to the Responsbile Retailer Scheme.\n\nThis aims to prevent the illegal sale of any age-restricted products, and offers training to business owners.\n\nTwo volunteer police cadets aged 16 led the way around the shops. Jittery but determined, they walked into the stores and asked if they could buy the weapon.\n\nBoth teenagers, who are measured before the operation to make sure they do look reasonably under 18, had seen stabbings and gang crime at their secondary schools.\n\n##  Latest London news\n\n  * What I Rent: I pay £2,600pcm for my south London one-bed — here’s what I get for my money\n  * Five officers removed from duty after ‘leaving bag of guns outside Sadiq Khan’s home’\n  * London is getting its first new town centre in 50 years — but at what cost?\n\n\n\n_**To get the latest news from the capital, visit Metro's**  London news hub._\n\nOne said: ‘It feels scarier knowing these shops are selling knives, than going in and asking for one.’\n\nThe other added: ‘It’s hard to see what police and schools are actually doing about knife crime. At least we can say, we are trying as well.’\n\n## ‘Some just see it as a game’\n\nStrutting into the first shop, the two teenagers asked to purchase a knife, while Metro and a supporting officer stood within earshot, looking at mugs commemorating the birth of Princess Charlotte.\n\nThe shop assistant grabbed a knife for them, went to ring it up at the till, and at the last second asked for ID.\n\nAfter the teenagers were told ‘no sale’, they left the store. But Metro stayed behind, and saw staff members gather round and shake hands.\n\nMurmurs of ‘well done boy’ and ‘congratulations’ were heard in the mix of a different language. It was clear they knew it was a test.\n\nTrading Standards Officer Christian Dalley said: ‘It is sad that they see it as a game, it’s just cynical really.\n\n‘But now we’ll make sure we go there again.’\n\n## ‘Just keep it out of your jacket when you walk out’\n\nAlthough knife crime is going down, it is still the weapon of choice for teenagers (Picture: Justin Griffiths-Williams)\n\nThe second and third shops, to the relief of everyone around, passed the test.\n\nBut the fourth shop failed with flying colours.\n\nThe two teenagers were given a knife with ease. They paid and went to walk out of the store holding it.\n\nThey were stopped just before they went through the door, but only to be hurriedly told to either put the knife in a plastic bag or conceal it beneath their jacket.\n\nTrading Standards walked into serve a prosecution notice to the shop, with staff refusing to shake the hands of the officers.\n\n## ‘Our plan is working’\n\nDetective Superintendent Vicky Turnstall who is leading the operation (Picture: Justin Griffiths-Williams)\n\nAnd preemptive action like this is clearly working.\n\nDetective Superintendent Vicky Tunstall told Metro: ‘Knife crime in Tower Hamlets has gone down by around 75%, and we want to keep it that way.\n\n‘We work with retailers – not against them – to keep people safe. But it means checking on the shops where we have intelligence that all is not the way it should be.’\n\nIn 2025, the Met took 2,894 knives off the streets, compared to 1,743 in 2024.\n\nThere were 97 homicides in London in 2025, an 11% reduction compared to 2024 and the lowest since 2014.\n\nTeenage homicide has fallen to its joint lowest level in almost three decades, matching the record set in 2012.\n\nIn 2025, there were eight teenage victims – a reduction of 73% since 2021.\n\nTeenagers account for only 8.3% of all homicides in London. There has been a 74% decrease in homicides involving under 25 victims.\n\nThere were 18 in 2025 compared to the 2017 peak of 69, showing clear progress in tackling serious violence among young people.\n\nThe number of murders in London has also reduced, with 93 in 2025, at the lowest rate since 2014.\n\n******Get in touch with our news team by emailing us atwebnews@metro.co.uk.******\n\n**For more stories like this,** check our news page.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "We find how children get hold of knives in London – and it’s not from the dark web"
}