newy.com.au – A 16-year-old boy has been charged with possessing a knife in public after a foot pursuit at an East Maitland shopping centre during a statewide weapons operation.
Port Stephens-Hunter police said officers tried to speak to the boy at the centre on Molly Morgan Drive about 3.30pm on Thursday, September 24. Police searched him and the nearby area after a foot pursuit, allegedly finding and seizing a knife.
He was issued a court attendance notice for custody of a knife in a public place and failing or refusing to comply with a police officer in a designated area. He is due before a children’s court on October 22.
Police said Operation Foil resulted in 360 charges against more than 150 people across NSW. Officers scanned 4436 people for weapons and seized 108 weapons, including 85 knives and four firearms, between Thursday afternoon and early Saturday.
More than 500 officers took part in the operation targeting violent offenders, knife crime and weapons in public places. Police also recorded 160 drug detections and executed 35 outstanding warrants.
A 32-year-old man arrested by Brisbane Water police on Thursday was charged after officers allegedly found a homemade knife, cannabis and methylamphetamine during a search. He faces charges of possessing an offensive implement in public and two drug offences. Outstanding warrants were also executed.
In Sydney, police responding to a reported armed robbery near Redfern Park on Friday morning allegedly found a machete and stolen items when they searched a 15-year-old boy nearby. He was charged with armed robbery, knife possession and larceny.
At Leichhardt on Friday evening, police allegedly found three knives on a 42-year-old man at licensed premises on Norton Street. Police allege he later assaulted a probationary constable at Newtown Police Station. He was charged with three counts of knife possession, possessing housebreaking implements and assaulting police without causing actual bodily harm.
The Redfern boy and Leichhardt man were refused bail ahead of court appearances scheduled for Saturday, September 26.
At Parramatta railway station, a 16-year-old boy was charged with two counts of knife possession after officers allegedly found two 30cm hunting knives on Thursday night. In a separate operation in the Parramatta area that afternoon, a 23-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy were issued court attendance notices after police allegedly found knives and cannabis on each of them.
Police said a 36-year-old man was issued a court attendance notice for knife possession after an axe was allegedly found in his bag at a Tamworth shopping complex on Thursday. He is due at Tamworth Local Court on October 20.
A 27-year-old woman was charged with weapons and drug offences after police allegedly found a trench knife, cannabis and a prescribed substance during a search of her at a Tweed Heads South shopping centre on Friday.
Operation commander Detective Acting Superintendent Michael Cantrell said the strategy had been conducted three times this year.
“If you choose to carry a dangerous weapon in public, you should expect to be caught and held to account,” Police Minister Yasmin Catley said.
