Knife and axe seized in Preston after stop and search operation sweeps through city

The weapons were seized in the city centre yesterday evening (Wednesday, May 22).

Officers had been carrying out a number of stop and searches across Preston as part of a new government-funded operation.

Operation Edge has been set up following a surge of money from the Home Office in a bid to proactively target violent crime in the city.

Lancashire Police said it is already seeing the benefits of the extra cash, with Operation Edge funding more patrols and overtime to crack down on weapon related crime.

Last night (May 22), the extra patrols led to a number of arrests after a stop and search operation swept through the city centre.

A spokesman for Lancashire Police said: "On Tuesday (May 21) and Wednesday (May 22) a number results have been achieved by having more officers on patrol.

"The OperationEdge team arrested two males for drug supply, one arrest made for possession of a controlled substance, an axe was recovered and a male arrested for possession of a knife.

"OperationEdge will continue to proactively target violent crimes and weapon related crimes in Preston."