Over 2,000 knives seized by Bedfordshire Police during Operation Sceptre
The week of action was backed by the family of a boy killed by stabbing in Bedford last June
More than 2,000 knives have been taken off the streets of Bedfordshire following police's week of action to tackle knife crime.
It's part of the nation-wide Operation Sceptre, dedicated to doubling effort to remove dangerous weapons from the streets and educating the public around the dangers of carrying knives.
During last year's week of action, Bedfordshire Police launched their 'Just Drop It' campaign to get the message across through social media, which was brought back into focus on May 13.
The campaign was backed by the family of 25-year-old Ashish Sachdev Nahar, who was killed by 16-year-old Kamil Serba at a park in Bedford last June.
"...there's no reason why you that knife should be coming to you."
Ashish's aunt Sheetal Lodhia said: "We have to make sure prevention is better than cure, and we need to start looking at the root cause of these problems."
"I think the first thing is looking at where the knives are bought, I think that really needs to come to a stop. We need to minimise the couriers who are delivering these knives and unless you have a reason to have that knife, i.e. for work, there's no reason why you that knife should be coming to you."
"We've lost our nephew. He's gone. There's nothing that we can do to bring him back now. But we hope this will make somebody think twice."
The county’s Violence and Exploitation Reduction Unit (VERU) released a video as part of the 'Just Drop It' campaign, showcasing statements from Ashish's family and friends.
Sheetal said: "This was the exact aim of joining forces with the force in coming up with this video. No one wants to really share their pain and grief, that's something personal to each individual."
"We've shared that with a large majority of people on social media platforms and hopefully some good can come out of it."
"We've lost our nephew. He's gone. There's nothing that we can do to bring him back now. But we hope this will make somebody think twice."
Bedfordshire Police also joined forces with local authorities to conduct more than 50 intelligence-led weapons sweeps in parks and bridleways across the county.
Operation Sceptre further led to the arrest of three teenagers suspected to be reselling knives, swords and machetes, which led to the force seizing three machetes, two zombie-style knives, a flick knife, cannabis and several mobile phones.