A knife arch was in operation at Stevenage Railway Station last week as police looked to tackle offensive weapons in the town.

The arch was manned by officers from the Stevenage Safer Neighbourhood Team and Operation Scorpion on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

More than 290 people passed through the arch over the three days, and encouragingly, no knives were found.

However, two people were given warnings after they were found in possession of a small amount of cannabis.

Herts police are concerned about the growing issue of people from outside the area, travelling to commit crime, with the operation designed to deter this.

Chief Inspector Alicia Shaw said: “We know that people are using the rail network to access our town for the purpose of committing crime, particularly drug related crime.

“Some of these people may well be carrying knives and this is what we are hoping to detect with the knife arch.

“My officers will also be engaging with the regular commuter population to provide reassurance and information about our ongoing work. We are planning more operations like this to send a clear message to those that want to use our town for criminal purposes, that you are not welcome here and we will do all in our power to track you down.”

If you have any information about drug crime, call Herts police on the non-emergency number 101, or report online at herts.police.uk/report.

Alternatively, callCrimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org.