A fearsome-looking 'Rambo' knife and a large machete were seized by police officers who chased down two masked men riding mopeds.
Two men were subsequently arrested and quizzed as part of an ongoing Greater Manchester Police crackdown on thefts from vehicles in north Manchester. They have now been released on police bail pending further investigations and haven't been named.
Both men were held in the Miles Platting area on suspicion of 'theft of motor vehicles, going equipped to steal and having on their possession a bladed article', the force said in a statement. GMP Manchester North shared photographs of the weapons now taken off the streets.
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News of the arrests and seizures comes as the issue of large knives was debated in Parliament.
Making a statement in the Commons on Tuesday on legislative proposals to tackle the use of machetes and other large knives in crime, Home Office minister Chris Philp said: "We intend to ban those weapons, going further than the weapons ban already introduced in the Offensive Weapons Act 2019."
He added: "In addition, we are proposing to toughen the current penalties for selling prohibited offensive weapons and for selling bladed articles to the under-18s. Under our proposals, the maximum penalty of those offences would be increased to two years imprisonment.
"We're also consulting on whether to provide the police with additional powers to enable them to cease, retain and destroy bladed articles of any length held in private where they are intended for criminal use, or whether the power should be limited to articles of a certain length."
Responding, Labour said the proposed ban on machetes and so-called zombie knives was 'too little, too late'. Shadow Home Office minister Sarah Jones told the Commons: "Labour supports measures to ban zombie-style knives and machetes. Knife crime devastates lives and rips families apart. But this is too little, too late. A smoke screen to distract from their appalling record.
"Knife crime has risen by 70 per cent since 2015 across the country, and the whole country is affected."
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, GMP Manchester North said one suspect had the machete down his waistband. The other attempted to throw away the Rambo knife, bit it was found.
GMP said: "Yesterday officers adjusted their shift to look at the recent spike in crime within Miles Platting/Ancoats relating to thefts from motor vehicles. The team sighted two mopeds just off Winstanley Road with the riders having Balaclavas on. The team managed to get one of the riders off and gave chase, subsequently detaining him. The male was arrested and upon searching him a large machete was located in his waistband.
"The other male ran off but again was detained by the team after a short foot chase. This male discarded a large Rambo knife but again this was located by the team and taken off the streets.
"Both males spent the night in police custody for offences of theft of motor vehicles, going equipped to steal and having on their possession a bladed article.
"Both males have today been interviewed and bailed pending further enquiries." No further details have been revealed and the ages of the suspects haven't been released.
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