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Cops have made over 50 arrests and taken several guns off the streets after a month long blitz on pubs and clubs across the city. Five guns were seized after visits to almost two hundred venues between 15 December and last Sunday - often exposing flaws with search regimes, and also uncovering thirteen unregistered door supervisors. Eleven clubs were shut down based on police information about serious violence or disorder was planned to take place inside. Offensives included handling stolen goods, possession of offensive weapons, attempted murder and threats to kill.
Hostile environment
Operation Argon is the Met's crackdown on people carrying knives and guns in licensed premises, Detective Chief Superintendent Helen Ball, in charge of the operation, said: "This operation was designed to make London as hostile an environment as possible for weapon carrying criminals to move around, and to keep the Capital's pubs and clubs as safe as can be."
Gun reports down 43%
The detective revealed that reports of gunfire were down by about 43% compared to the previous year. Adding: "By making venues harder and harder for criminals to get weapons into, and making it increasingly difficult for them drive around London, we are reducing the number of times guns are fired on our streets."
Poorly run venues
Firearms officers were out as part of an intelligence-led operation to stop cars known to be linked to weapons. In total eighty cars were stopped - sending a clear message to people known to carry weapons that they cannot easily travel the Capital's streets. Detective Chief Superintendent Richard Martin, in charge of the Met's Clubs and Vice Unit, said: "The vast majority of London's pubs and clubs deserve their reputation for being part of world recognised night time economy. The support we have received for this operation from the industry has been overwhelming. "We all want the small minority of poorly run venues that endanger people through lax security searches and flout the law to be pulled back into shape. Operations like this give a clear message to the industry that police will support well run venues, but continue to target poorly run venues throughout the year with undercover random spot checks."
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