Football players back knife crime blitz

By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - Football players backed a call for teenagers to stop carrying weapons on Monday as figures showed police had arrested 2,500 suspects and searched 55,000 people during a massive clampdown on knife crime.

In all, 1,600 knives have been seized since the government's Tackling Knives Action Programme (TKAP) was launched in 10 areas of the country on June 5, prompted by a series of high-profile teenage murders.

At a news conference on Monday, England players added their backing.

"I think the kids in the past ... the deterrent hasn't been strong enough, they've probably never felt that there's a chance of them going to prison," said defender Rio Ferdinand.

"For us to be a part of this is fantastic and hopefully we can have some effect on the young people."

The police crackdown came after a series of violent teenage deaths on streets across Britain, most the result of knifings. It has seen police using tough powers to stop and search teenagers without needing to have reasonable suspicion.

The scale of the problem was highlighted with two more deaths this weekend.

In the early hours of Saturday, 16-year-old Conor Black was stabbed to death in the Harpurhey district of Manchester, while Nilanthan Murddi, 17, became the 23rd teenager to die violently in London this year after he was knifed in Croydon.