Man and woman charged in relation to illegal selling and marketing of knives via social media

A man and woman from Leeds have appeared in court charged with offences related to the illegal selling and marketing of knives via social media.

The charges followed an investigation by West Yorkshire Police’s county lines taskforce Operation Phoenix.

Officers from the team made the arrests following a referral from the National Knife Crime Centre, which was launched by the National Police Chiefs’ Council in April this year as part of national co-ordination to tackle knife crime, particularly the illegal sale of knives to under-18s via online and social media.

Irmann Ali, 20, and Ruqayya Hussain, 20, both of College Drive, Horsforth, have each been charged with one count of jointly selling a weapon to which Section 141 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 applies, namely a flick knife, and one count of jointly marketing a combat knife in a way that suggested it was suitable for combat contrary to Section 1 of the Knives Act 1997.

Both appeared at Leeds Magistrates Court on Thursday August 13 and were bailed until a further hearing at the same court on November 16.