Op Venture catch teenage suspect who was armed in Longsight

Yesterday (Tuesday 9 July 2024) at around 3pm, our Operation Venture patrols were on Farrant Road in Manchester due to ongoing intelligence.

Whilst in plain clothes, a vehicle was spotted which had four males inside wearing balaclavas and gloves. As they loitered in the area with no real purpose, more of our patrols arrived as the group fled.

With one remaining in an alley, our uniformed officers approached the male before he decided to run away. As a foot chase begun, a large kitchen knife he was holding was shown to officers and thrown to the ground, as well as a discarded Nokia phone which is believed to a ‘burner’ relating to drugs. Following a search of his body around 70 wraps were located.

A 16-year-old boy was then arrested on suspicion of possession of a bladed article and possession with intent to supply Class A drugs and remains in custody for questioning.

An investigation alongside this by our dedicated detectives is progressing into further suspected drugs supply by urban street gangs and exploitation.

PC Butler of our Operation Venture team said; “This arrest and incident is what our team is focussed on tackling robustly, to make sure we can protect our communities and prevent where possible serious violence.

“Our deployments in areas such as this is based off evidence we gather and means we can target suspected criminals in the act.

“The co-ordinated work we do across the force as a team is continuing with both high-visibility patrols and undercover officers embedding themselves within key hotspot areas.

“We would always encourage members of the public to report anything they think is suspicious or causing them concern so we can look to act on it.”

Operation Venture is a specialised team that are dedicated to tackling violence, particularly that involving younger people, and with a focus on knife crime. Supporting the work of the Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) – a multi-agency team that seeks to prevent violence by addressing the underlying causes. A key part of the work of the VRU involves educating those who might be at risk of re-offending and as a result of this the VRU commission and support a number of education programmes.

We all have a part to play in fighting, preventing, and reducing knife crime. If you know or suspect someone is carrying a knife, please report it immediately. Greater Manchester Police can be contacted via gmp.police.uk or 101. In an emergency, always dial 999.

Anonymous reports can be made via the independent charity – Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Whilst 11-17-year-olds can make anonymous reports via Fearless.org