Pair held in train crime operation

Feb 26 2008 by Staff Reporter, Liverpool Daily Post

THREE knives were recovered by police at Bootle New Strand railway station as part of a strategic crackdown on crime at train stations.

The anti-knife initiative named Operation Shield took place on Friday evening and involved the British Transport Police (BTP) using metal detectors to scan people for weapons.

Two men aged 29 and 36 were arrested and charged for each possessing a knife.

They will appear, respectively, at North Sefton and South Sefton Magistrates next month.

Another 29-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possessing cocaine and was wanted for a previous offence.

During the evening, 95 members of the public walked through the detection points, with 49 people stopped and searched.

Inspector McEwan said: “Passengers were once again reassured to see large numbers of BTP officers proactively tackling the issue of knife and drug crime on the railways and we will continue to deploy Operation Shield regularly at stations throughout Merseyside and the North West.”

Other offences detected included a 13- year-old girl receiving a reprimand for graffiti, a person reported for possession of class C drugs along with the finding a discarded flick knife.