Weapons seized in house raid

Drugs and a variety of weapons were recovered during a raid on a house in Alt, Oldham.

POLICE seized cannabis and lethal knives and swords during a raid at a house in Alt.

Officers from the Neighbourhood Policing Team and Operational Support Unit executed a warrant at a house on Cherry Avenue at 9.20am yesterday.

Cannabis with an estimated street value of £2,000 and an assortment of lethal knives and swords were recovered.

A 28-year-old man, and two women, aged 52 and 29, were arrested on suspicion of the production of cannabis, and bailed pending further enquiries.

Sergeant Trevor Harrison, of the West Oldham Neighbourhood Policing Team which covers the Alt estate, said: “This is yet another example of the police and local community working together and achieving good results.

“Not only has this raid led to a sizeable seizure of cannabis, which will now not hit the streets, but it sends out a clear message to criminals responsible for selling drugs that we are actively tackling this head on.

“We have been responding to information given to us by members of the public and today’s action demonstrates the local community will no longer stand for it.

“I would urge anyone with any information about illegal activity to contact the police directly or Crimestoppers. You will be listened to and your concerns taken seriously.”

NEW figures show that the North-West has the highest number of serious injury caused by knives, daggers and swords in England.

The region’s deadly knife crime culture was shown in statistics from the North West Strategic Health Authority, which also show that the region has the second highest rate of admissions due to assaults with a sharp object in England, behind only London.

They show that in the North-West there were three children under 10 admitted to hospital after being assaulted with a sharp object. In the 10-15 age group there were 24, aged 16-18 there were 135, aged 19 to 25 there were 293 and for those aged over 26 there were 507.

Elwyn Watkins, Parliamentary Spokesperson for Oldham East and Saddleworth, said: “We are locked in a vicious circle where teenagers don’t feel safe on our streets and therefore more of them carry knives.

“Instead of spending billions on ID cards, the Government should spend the money on actually making people safer by putting more police on our streets.”