POLICE have hailed a weekend crackdown on youths carrying 'rambo style knives and machetes' a great success.

On Friday evening and Saturday, a 24 hour Section 60 order was in place across Deeside - which gave police powers to stop and search any person or vehicle deemed to be without normal grounds in the vicinity.

A total of 75 people were stopped across Friday evening and Saturday, with officers seizing a quantity of weapons, several thousands pounds of cash and quantities both Class A and B drugs.

And Sergeant Gavin Gilmore of South Flintshire Police has hailed the clampdown a great success to quell growing 'gang culture' which has seen teenagers as young as 13 carrying knives in the county.

He told the Leader: "In the last two to three months we've seen a sharp increase in the number of incidents across South Flintshire of large gangs of youths, between the ages of 13 to 17, coming from North Flintshire carrying knives and other offensive weapons.

"They have been particularly prevalent areas of Ewloe and Hawarden - and the weekend Section 60 order included these places.

"The Section 60 order over the weekend demonstrates are intent to prevent these gangs from carrying such objects and to make Flintshire a safer place for all."

The Leader:

Explaining the Section 60 powers, Sergeant Gilmore said they can only be applied for after a incident of extreme violence, or police intelligence that suggests there is great threat of an incident.

And the order came after a man suffered 49 stab wounds during an incident in Garden City on October 21.

Sergeant Gilmore said: "We collected rambo style knives, machetes and your more commonly seen flick knives.

"We will simply not tolerate anyone carrying such weapons and the weekend order shows our clear intent to seize them."

Asked why there has been a rise in groups of youths in Flintshire carrying knives, Sergeant Gilmore said the rapid growth of County Lines drug dealing would likely be a major factor.

He said: "The whole point of County Lines is that gangs use young people to deal drugs outside of major cities - and often arm them with knives.

"But it's only in the last couple of months we've started to see youths who reside in South Flintshire carrying offensive weapons - it could be down to an increase in gang culture that we've seen in schools.

"For that reason we're increasingly doing work with schools to combat this.

"It's hard to say why exactly it is happening, but teenagers can buy knives over the internet so easily nowadays.

"And some accountability has to lie with parents - do you know what your child is buying online and what they are doing when they're out and what they're taking with them?"