Illegal weapons which carry a jail sentence are being sold online for 'pocket money' prices, a consumer watchdog has claimed. Potentially lethal items such as knives, knuckle dusters, swords and batons have all been found widely available on the likes of eBay, Amazon Marketplace and Wish.
A probe by Which? made the shock discovery and highlighted the need for such cyber sellers to take more responsibility for and carry out better checks on what's offered to their customers. Some items were even being sold for as little as 49p - the price of a can of pop.
And the findings are even more disturbing given the current epidemic of knife crime which has left a soaring number of UK teenagers dead. What is more, Which? said the weapons were frightening easy to find.
READ MORE: New knife rules could see shops fined £1million
A report by The Mirror added that the law, including the Offensive Weapons Act 2019, makes clear that none of these weapons should be available for sale in the UK - they cannot even be owned in a private home. If a person were to be caught with one of these products they could face arrest and a prison sentence.
On its Amazon search, Which? found more than a dozen listings for banned friction lock batons masquerading as ‘trekking poles’. Some of the listings were found to use special characters - such as ‘bătõň’ - in the title or only used the word baton in the artwork, presumably to avoid detection.
On eBay, experts found a variety of illegal swords, zombie knives, and knuckle dusters, including a 23-inch steel serrated-edged knife costing £27 and a 27-inch blade for £32. One seller was offering a combo deal on a karambit blade (which is curved and claw-like) and a 'paralysing spray' for £13.99 - items which, according to eBay’s terms and conditions, should not on sale.
However, the widest selection of weapons for sale were found on AliExpress and Wish - with simple searches of the terms ‘flick knife’, ‘automatic opening knife’ and ‘spring assisted knives’ returning dozens of results on each. Many were priced at less than £10 and some even being marketed for self-defence.
When it came to Wish, Which? was able to find a large number of flick knives and at least a dozen butterfly knives - blades that open out into a point - even though they are illegal. On AliExpress there were large numbers of hidden blades and a raft of ‘self-defence rings’ designed to be worn as knuckle dusters - one priced at just 49p.
Reacting to the shocking findings, Amazon and eBay said they had removed all the listings reported to them, while Wish said it is in the process of removing them. AliExpress said it had removed the listings but, since its initial response Which? researchers claim to have logged two further promotional emails from the site, one of which offered a ‘self defence’ flick knife for £2.83.
A spokesperson for AliExpress said "The safety of our customers is our highest priority," adding they have "strict guidelines" which dictate that only over 18s should be able to purchase items such as knives on its platform. Amazon stated it was "disappointed" its safety measurement had been breached but stressed these were "isolated incidents."
eBay added that, while its selling policies differ internationally, it prohibits the sale of the "vast majority of knives" in its UK marketplace, It added that it would investigate why such a block had failed in this instance.
Wish also "condemned the listing or sale of illegal weapons on our UK platform." It stated it would carry out an "urgent review" of its processes.
Sue Davies, Head of Consumer Protection Policy at Which?, said, "It's disturbing that our latest investigation has uncovered illegal weapons being sold on online marketplaces at extraordinarily cheap prices and that these tech firms are also pushing additional dangerous items to people. This raises big question marks over the checks and monitoring being done by these platforms."
Read next:
- Public support for nurses who plan to strike for first time ever
- Welsh Government banned from popular tourist attraction
- School uniforms should undergo one simple change say cash-strapped parents
- Lord Dafydd Wigley says Welsh independence 'less likely' if Scotland vote no
- Martin Lewis posts 'tragic' update on energy bills that will cripple households
