Haringey Cabinet Member for Communities, Cllr Ajda Ovat, and Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families, Cllr Zena Brabazon, joined officers from the council’s Community Safety and Youth Justice teams at the launch of one of the borough’s two new ninja sword amnesty bins at White Hart Lane Recreation Ground this morning (Tuesday 1 July 2025).
Cllr Lucia das Neves, a ward councillor for Woodside (where this amnesty bin is located) and Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care and Wellbeing, was also in attendance alongside Cllrs Brabazon and Ovat.
The other ninja sword amnesty bin is located on Tottenham Green outside Tottenham Town Hall, where Haringey residents are being urged to dispose of these blades.
Cllr Ovat said:
One life lost to knife crime on the streets of the capital is one too many.
It’s fundamentally important that, as a community, we get as many of these dangerous weapons as possible off of London’s streets to prevent members of the public from being seriously harmed – or even fatally injured – by them.
As a council, we’re determined to do all we can to minimise the risks of our residents falling victim to zombie knives, ninja swords and other bladed tools. We are therefore urging them to dispose of these knives, swords and blades at the designated surrender bins across our borough.
From Friday 1 August 2025 onwards, new legislation will make it unlawful to import, manufacture, possess or sell ninja swords and anybody caught in possession of one in private could face six months in prison.
This sentence is likely to increase to two years under new measures proposed in the forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill, although there is already a penalty of up to four years’ imprisonment for anyone caught carrying any weapon in public.
With the blade measuring between 14 inches and 24 inches in the majority of cases, a ninja sword is invariably characterised by one straight cutting edge and a ‘tanto’-style point.
These soon-to-be-illegal weapons can now be surrendered responsibly, safely and securely by a young person, a carer/parent, a family relative or any member of the public at the knife surrender bin at either Tottenham Green or White Hart Lane Recreation Ground.
Tottenham Green:
White Hart Lane Recreation Ground:
The maintenance of these bins will be carried out by the leading weapons surrender charity Word 4 Weapons, who are also responsible for the two existing knife bins in the borough.
These disposal points are located at the Muswell Hill Baptist Church (2 Dukes Avenue, Muswell Hill, N10 2PT) and St Paul the Apostle Roman Catholic Church in Wood Green (22 Bradley Rd, N22 7SZ).
However, neither of these bins can currently accommodate ninja swords so residents will need to travel to either Tottenham Green or White Hart Lane Recreation Ground to dispose of them.
Additionally, a ‘Faz Amnesty’ mobile van will be situated by the VUE Cinema and Nando’s on Wood Green High Road between 2pm and 5pm on Wednesday 23 July.
You can find more details about the knife surrender bins in our borough on the Haringey Council website.
For further information about this fully secure and purpose-built van, please visit the Gov.uk website.
