Knife wholesaler surrenders 35,000 'zombie' blades

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Ben Schofield/BBC A gloved hand holding a knife. The blade is more than 8in (20cm) long and is sharpened on one side, with serrations on the other. A small part of a handle wound with green string is visible. The hilt and the blade are both bright, new metal. The tip of the blade is covered with a small piece of safety plastic. In the background are the legs and feet of the police officer holding the knife, standing on a concrete surface.

A knife wholesaler whose weapons have been used in several killings has surrendered more than 35,000 "zombie" blades.

Police said the knives and machetes were designed to "kill and maim".

Under a government surrender scheme Luton-based Sporting Wholesale will receive £10 compensation for each knife.

The company said it would not comment.

Ben Schofield/BBC Two of the knives surrendered by Sporting Wholesale. They are both propped up, leaning against cardboard boxes, with the points digging into the top of another cardboard box. Both knives are around 18in (45cm) long. One is black, with a sharpened edge and a serrated edge. It has a black handle with a black rope hanging from the hilt. The other has a brown wooden handle, a blade that curves in places and four holes near the handle.

Supt Alex House, who leads on knife crime for Bedfordshire Police, said the knives and machetes had "no other use" than as weapons.

"There’s no other practical use for them," he told the BBC. "If you look at the design... the purpose is to kill and maim."

Zombie knives were first banned in 2016 but a new, broader definition designed to outlaw more blades will take effect in England and Wales on 24 September.

From then it will be illegal to own a knife with a sharpened blade longer than 8in (20cm), if it also has other features, including:

A serrated cutting edge
More than one hole in the blade
Spikes
More than two sharp points in the blade

Ben Schofield/BBC A police officer holds a zombie knife in a gloved hand, while another officer holds a 30cm rule against its blade. The officer with the ruler is also holding a pen. Part of a cardboard box can be seen on the concrete floor, while some plastic wrapping can be seen held in another gloved hand.

The weapons will be shredded and their metal recycled by a specialist company.

Mr House added that it was a "horrific amount of knives".

"The fact that we have now got them all here and they are going to be destroyed will absolutely save lives."

Steve Hubbard/BBC Two police officers pushing a pallet laden down with cardboard boxes into the corner of a breeze block-walled room. It is the only pallet visible. The boxes are around the same height as both officers and are partially wrapped in black cellophane. One officer is wearing a police jacket and we can see he is an inspector. The other is wearing a grey sweatshirt, dark joggers and casual shoes.

Sporting Wholesale imported knives in bulk and sold to retailers. It owns the knife brand Anglo Arms, which the company admitted in 2021 had gained a "reputation with gangs".

The company said earlier this year that "over the last five to six years knife crime has increased". It added "as a result... we reduced the Anglo Arms range to cover practical and traditional knives only".

Eddy Eliaz is the firm's managing director and major shareholder.

His younger brother Adam Eliaz is the director and major shareholder in DNA Leisure, an online retailer, located on the same industrial estate. DNA Leisure also surrendered 1,542 knives.

Both companies announced in June they would no longer sell knives, beyond their current stock.

A post on Sporting Wholesale's website said "after supplying the trade with cutlery and archery products for over 20 years" it was "saddened to say that Sporting Wholesale Ltd are now ceasing the sale of these items".

It added one final shipment of the products was due to be delivered "but no new orders will be placed".

"This is all quite unfortunate, but the UK is now not a place where these items can be openly sold," it continued.

Twitter Eddy Eliaz is pictured looking straight to camera. He is wearing a dark blue T-shirt and is standing on a jetty, which appears to lead into a lake. There are speed boats moored next to the jetty and hills can be seen in the distance. Mr Eliaz has dark eyes and dark, short hair.

The move followed press coverage the previous month of the sentencing of Rayis Nibeel and an accomplice for the murder of Omar Khan in Luton.

In 2023 Nibeel had bought 79 knives and machetes from DNA Leisure despite being only 16. He used a family member's ID to buy the blades online over 13 separate transactions.

DNA Leisure said that Nibeel had committed "fraud" and the company had used an "age-verified courier" to make the deliveries.

The knife that killed Mr Khan was sold as part of a pair by DNA Leisure, which described them as the "Anglo Arms bayonet style fixed blade knife set". In April this year, a similar set was being sold for £29.95 by DNA.

Ben Schofield/BBC Two seemingly identical knives held by two police officers. The knives have sharpened blades, as well as lengths of serrations along the top of the blade. Their handles are black and both have circular metal fixings, apparently so they could be used as bayonets. They are held with their points facing towards the bottom of the frame. The concrete ground can be seen in the background along with a cardboard box and one of the officer's legs and feet.

A wound from an Anglo Arms machete killed 14-year-old Gordon Gault after an attack in November 2022 in Newcastle. Two teenagers were jailed for manslaughter.

A murder trial also heard how an Anglo Arms bullet lock knife was used to fatally stab Joshua Clark and Haidar Shah in Halifax in October 2023.

Of those attacks, only the weapon used to murder Omar Khan is being outlawed.

There has been criticism that the new ban, which was designed by the previous Conservative government, does not go far enough.

On 9 September, the Labour government held a summit at Downing Street focused on knife crime. It said it was considering a further ban on ninja swords and making it harder to buy dangerous weapons online.

Ben Schofield/BBC A collection of 14 models of knife lying on top of their individual boxes, which are in turn laid out on a blue wooden pallet. The knives are all flat and are pictured from above. All the knives meet the criteria of the new ban, having blades longer than 8in or 20cm, as well as other features like holes in the blade or serrations.

Bedfordshire Police said it is also working to tackle a black market, which could be bolstered by the stricter ban.

Det Insp Graham Newton, from the force's anti-gangs unit, said while the zombie knife law change was welcome, he was aware that "like other prohibited items, there will be some people that try to make a criminal gain".

Ben Schofield/BBC Graham Newton, pictured looking direct to camera in an office, with a purple wall, part of a large TV screen and a window covered by a set of vertical blinds behind him. Mr Newton is wearing a blue shirt, dark blue and white patterned shirt and dark blue blazer. He has blue eyes, brown hair brushed to the side and a hint of stubble on his face.

He promised that detectives would be as "inventive" in trying to catch illegal sellers as the sellers themselves.

"We need to stop the knives at source and then stop the violence happening on the street."

Si Philbert, a youth practitioner with Wingman Mentors and St Giles Trust, said while the new ban was "not enough" it was "a start" and "overdue".

Wingman works with Bedfordshire's Home Office-funded Violence and Exploitation Reduction Unit to try to prevent knife crime.

Ben Schofield/BBC Si Philbert pictured looking direct to camera. He is seated on some concrete steps outdoors. There are steps leading up to a door behind him and weeds growing along the side of a short path between the steps and the door. Mr Philbert is wearing a black hoodie with a white drawstring. He has dark brown eyes and short black hair. He wears a goatee beard, some of whose bristles are turning grey.

"If zombie knives didn’t exist," Mr Philbert, 49, added, "we’d still have a problem with knife crime."

Mr Philbert said "nine times out of 10" young people carry knives out of fear.

He said he encouraged young people to "change their environment" from a "war zone" to a "safer space... where they don’t feel like they need to protect themselves".

"If you can prevent them from picking up a knife in the first place, it’s better than just banning the knives."

The zombie knife surrender scheme is open until the end of 23 September.

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