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Technology giants are being “wilfully blind” to weapons being sold on their platforms, a police chief has warned, as one seller faces jail for peddling knives on Instagram.
Commander Stephen Clayman said criminals are buying hundreds of blades in bulk from legitimate sellers and reselling them via social media.
Speaking at a Police Superintendents’ Association annual conference he said the one of the biggest problems in the fight against knife crime is from third party resellers.
He called for social media companies to come up with solutions to help stop deadly weapons changing hands on their platforms – often to children or known criminals.
“We have spoken to them, and they’ve some of them feel there’s no problem here, and I would suggest they need to look again at all they’re being wilfully blind to it,” he said.
“So it’s a serious issue they need to take up, and they need to come up with some of the solutions to fight this.”
He also wants online retailers to be compelled to inform police if someone purchases hundreds of weapons.
One individual, who cannot be named because the case has yet to reach trial, purchased 261 knives online which were delivered to his home address.
The weapons, which were primarily machetes, hunting and combat style knives, were then resold to his criminal network and a number of individuals linked to county lines drug dealing.
Another reseller Stefan Petrescu, 23, from Southampton, is due to sentenced next month after he admitted to one count of marketing a combat knife by selling.
Petrescu even bragged about weapons he sold on Instagram being used in the violent disorder that followed the stabbing of three girls in Southport earlier this summer.
“He was quite proud of the fact that he was selling what he was selling, and even makes reference here to the disorder that’s going on,” Cmdr Clayman added.
Petrescu had recently purchased a large number of weapons from Europe before he was arrested in August following a probe into blades and weapons being sold on Instagram.
He pleaded guilty to one count of marketing combat knife by selling and one count of possession of a weapon for the discharge of a noxious liquid/gas/electrical incapacitation device at Southampton Crown Court last week.
He also pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of an offensive weapon in a private place.
Petrescu has been remanded in custody to appear at the same court for sentencing on 25 October.
Cmdr Clayman’s comments come after Sir Keir Starmer vowed to double down on knife crime at a Downing Street summit this week with victim’s families and campaigners, including Hollywood actor Idris Elba.
A Meta spokesperson said: “We don’t allow the promotion and sale of weapons on our platform and we remove this content when we find it.
“Earlier this year we met with other large tech companies, the Home Office, Ofcom and the Chief Officer for knife crime to understand how we can work together to tackle this issue.
“We have also agreed to join the anti-knife crime coalition launched by the government and Idris Elba this week.”
