Over 21,000 knife and offensive weapon crimes were registered by UK’s Criminal Justice System (CJS) in England and Wales in late 2018, the highest number recorded since 2009, the UK Ministry of Justice said in a report on Thursday.
The report is based on the statistical trends of cautioning and sentencing from October to December 2018.
On Wednesday, UK Chancellor Philip Hammond pledged to allocate 100 million pounds (about $131 million) to UK police forces in 2020 to assist them in their fight against knife crime, which has been on the rise in the country in recent years.