MORE than 100 potentially deadly knives have been taken off the streets of Cumbria.

Operation Sceptre was run by Cumbria Police as part of a national drive to tackle knife crime and stop potentially dangerous blades falling into the wrong hands.

The countywide surrender ran between April 26 and May 2 and saw 106 a knives.

Chief Inspector Ben Swinson, who ran Operation Sceptre said: “The public have once again listened to our messaging and have surrendered knives at six locations across the county.

“Fortunately, in Cumbria we do not have a specific knife crime culture and we continue to see a lower number of knife-related incidents than in other areas of the UK.

“This surrender period and the connected proactive police work our officers conducted is a further positive step to reducing incidents involving knives in Cumbria.

“We are not complacent and we will continue our efforts to educate young people across Cumbria on the dangers of carrying knives. I’d like to thank secondary schools across the county for their assistance in providing their pupils with important advice.”

During the surrender the public were able to anonymously hand in unwanted knives, including knives that are prohibited, to surrender bins at police station front counters.

Cumbria has a lower number of knife offences than other areas of the country. But officers are not complacent about the risk.

Officers also spent time engaging with retailers to educate them around knife crime and the selling of knives.

Anyone with information about knife crime or concerns about someone carrying a weapon should call 101 or 999 in an emergency.