Swords seized at Shoreham airfield car boot sale
POLICE seized this haul of Samurai swords - which were on sale at a car boot sale.
An observant police community support officer spotted a van selling the swords at a car boot sale at Shoreham Airport on Sunday (June 15).
Police officers were called and they seized 13 Samurai swords with 2ft long blades. They spoke to the stall holder who said he didn't realise it was an offence to sell the swords.
He was formally interviewed and claimed he had spoken to trading standards who had told him that it was okay to sell the swords as long as the customers were aged over 18 as well as checking with a firearms police officer.
Adur police sergeant Rob Flanagan said: "We seized the swords following a recent change in the law which make it an offence for anyone to sell, hire, lend or offer for sale any Samurai sword.
"There is an exception made for collectors of geniune, high value Japanese swords with historical and cultural significance.
"We are not taking any action against the car boot seller because it seems he genuinely did not realise he was committing an offence but we have seized the swords which are worth about 800 and will be destroying them.
"We are asking the public to report anyone they see selling these swords to the police.This haul meant 13 potential dangerous weapons are now off the streets."
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Thursday 17 May 2012
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