AMID evening shadows in a residential street, a 25-year-old man lay screaming: “I’m dying, I can’t breathe,” as his young life ebbed away.
What witnesses said began as an argument between a group of men over a mobile phone was settled with a 2ft blade.
After rushing to the victim’s aid in Tufnell Park, North London, on Tuesday, ex-soldier Brett Thompson, 63, said: “We tried desperately to save him by putting towels and T-shirts around the wound.
“But from my military medical training, I knew it was no good.”
It was another grim and needless tragedy in a nation that has seen knife crime hit a seven-year high, with 40,147 offences in the year to March.
As the Government desperately attempts to stem the blade carnage, The Sun on Sunday today reveals a trail of blood that leads from UK streets to the factories of “knife city” — Yangjiang in China.
Unscrupulous companies there are packaging killer blades as “garden tools” or “cake tools”, then posting them to UK buyers after wrapping them in silver foil in an attempt to cheat X-ray machines when they arrive here.
Carer Lynne Baird, 61, whose son Daniel, 26, died from multiple stab wounds outside a Birmingham pub last year, said: “This trade must be stopped.
“They are making money out of knives that kill people. I can’t understand why anyone would do that.”
At Royal Mail’s vast Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre in Langley, Berks, eagle-eyed Border Force officers scan packages that have just arrived from abroad.
Ridwan Koodruth, 28, a Border Force senior officer, told us: “If you worked here for a week you would pretty much see every type of weapon there is.
“We get swords, 2ft zombie knives, throwing stars and stun guns. It’s incredible what people think they can get away with sending in the post.”
When a small parcel labelled “garden tool” was opened, it revealed an illegal butterfly knife wrapped in foil.
Costing just £3.82, the blade was being sent to an address in Newcastle upon Tyne.
The packaging revealed it had originated in Yangjiang.
Styling itself as the “Capital Of Knives And Scissors”, the city with a population of 2.4million is a mass of factories hugging the country’s south coast. It accounts for 85 per cent of China’s global knife and scissors exports.
Companies legally tout wholesale bulk orders for machetes and hunting knives on the internet.
Ridwan said: “Everything posted into the country comes through our hubs, without exception. We get packages from all over the world.
“But it is fair to say a lot does come from China and we can only assume this is because things can be made cheaply there. It’s an e-commerce issue.”
A second package from Yangjiang was opened.
Labelled “tools”, it contained a 4in banned flick knife for which a buyer in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, had paid £4.59.
All 11 knives seized by Border Force while The Sun on Sunday watched originated in China. Some had come via the Netherlands.
Destination addresses included the Scottish Borders, Cardiff, Norwich and South London.
There were two flick knives shaped like AK-47 assault rifles at £7.69 for the pair. They were heading for an address in Morecambe, Lancs, before being intercepted.
A parcel labelled “kitchen tool (souvenir)” actually contained a 7in knife, costing £7.65. It too was wrapped in foil.
The number of knives detected at Britain’s ports and airports is also soaring — yet until early next year, when it becomes law to collect such packages in person, there is little that can be done to stop those ordering them.
Border Force seized 10,935 offensive weapons, excluding guns, in the year 2016/17. That was up from 5,419 in 2013/14.
Ridwan said: “We can see that efforts have been made to conceal these weapons. It just doesn’t work and people doing this should know all of these illegal imports are referred to the police.”
Yet the grim death toll continues, with at least 59 people murdered with a knife in London alone this year. Earlier this month 12 people were stabbed in Birmingham in just one week.
So what is the Government doing about the carnage?
Hours before Tuesday’s murder in Tufnell Park, an elite Met Police unit gathered at dawn on an estate in Park Royal, a 30-minute drive away.
Soon the North West London street echoed to the sound of splintered glass as the Violent Crime Task Force crowbarred its way into a suspected drug dealer’s home looking for knives.
A detachment of British Transport Police officers first smashed through a ground-floor window before charging into the property. The raid followed a tip-off that an alleged gang member based there possessed an arsenal of knives. Weapons, including three blades, were gathered from the lair.
One of the officers on the raid, which was witnessed by The Sun on Sunday, described the knives as “something you might see in a Bruce Lee movie”.
Inspector Paul Trice told us: “Those weapons will be taken away for forensic examination to see if we can link them to any crime.”
He added: “We have a great relationship with the postal services when items come into this country and a lot of work goes into picking those up.”
The suspected dealer was not at home. Outside the new-build property three motorscooters were searched and a large quantity of cannabis discovered.
The dawn raid — also watched by Crime Minister Victoria Atkins — was part of Operation Sceptre, a fresh Government drive to get knives off the streets.
Chief Superintendent Ade Adelekan, 51, head of the Violent Crime Task Force, which has recovered at least 234 knives this year, said: “This is not a gimmick. This is what we do in response to knife crime across the country.”
Home Office minister Victoria, 42, praised The Sun on Sunday’s anti-knife Beat The Blades campaign.
Gesturing at the knife cache, she added: “They could do a great deal of harm. I hope this neighbourhood will be a bit safer after this raid.”
She believes the Offensive Weapons Bill, currently before Parliament, will help stem the bloody knife violence.
It will stop knives being sent to residential addresses after they are bought online.
It will also create a new criminal offence aimed at firms that deliver a knife on behalf of a seller outside the UK to a person under 18.
The minister said: “We’re tackling the online sale of knives because we know the vast majority of shop-keepers obey the law by not selling knives to under-18s.
“This is about giving the police what they need.”
Back at the Royal Mail Heathrow depot, Border Force’s Ridwan said: “The new law will mean people ordering these weapons will have to pick them up in person.
“They need to have a think about that. It will be a game-changer.”
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Grieving mum Lynne Baird hopes Ridwan is right. After son Daniel’s death last year, her family started the Stop Knife Crime — All Lives Matter campaign. A man has been charged with his murder.
The mum of eight said: “Losing Dan has completely ruined our lives. The grief is there every day.
“If this law change saves even one life and stops another family going through the pain we’ve been through, then it will be worth it.
'Makers just as guilty'
By Graeme Culliford
THE Sun on Sunday’s Beat The Blades campaign is calling on the Government to do more to fight knife crime.
Great strides have been made since June, when we set up a task force to come up with a plan to rid our streets of bloodshed.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid praised our campaign this month after 4,100 knives were seized in just one week.
He also doubled the Early Intervention Youth Fund – a Home Office scheme aimed at preventing serious violence – to £22million.
Colin James, a member of our panel and youth worker at the Gangs Unite action group, believes more can be done.
He said: “If young people don’t have access to these weapons, they can’t use them.
“Whoever is making these weapons – and making them available to young people – should be charged alongside any would-be killer.
“They are just as guilty.”
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Link
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News Pictures The Sun on Sunday exposes the evil trade of deadly blades from Chinese ‘knife city’ to the streets of the UK
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