A shocking police documentary has exposed a critical failure in Britain's border controls, revealing how a consignment of more than 35,000 banned zombie knives managed to enter the UK from China without detection by customs officers. The investigation raises urgent questions about the effectiveness of import inspections and the ongoing threat posed by these lethal weapons.
The Warehouse of Weapons
In the opening sequence of the documentary 24 Hours In Police Custody Investigates: Zombie Knives, a drone camera follows an articulated lorry to a police warehouse where the scale of the problem becomes horrifyingly clear. The flatbed truck carried half-a-dozen pallets stacked high with crates containing enormous knives, which officers methodically laid out in rows covering the entire warehouse floor. The scene resembled a macabre version of a home organisation show, with deadly machetes replacing children's toys.
What Are Zombie Knives?
Banned by the Conservative government in 2024, zombie knives are defined as weapons measuring at least eight inches from handle to tip, though many examples seized by police measure three times that length. Most feature serrated edges designed to inflict maximum internal damage, while some include hooked blades that can cause particularly gruesome injuries. Despite the ban, this investigation reveals how these weapons continue to enter the country.
The Luton Connection
The lorryload of weaponry was voluntarily handed over by two Luton-based businesses: Sporting Wholesale and DNA Leisure. These companies were run by brothers Eddy and Adam Eliaz, who had been selling the knives legally online before the 2024 prohibition came into effect. Tellingly, Adam Eliaz had appeared on a junior edition of The Apprentice in 2010 when he was just 17 years old, boasting: 'I love making money. I'll do anything, you know, if it brings money in my pocket.'
From Online Sales to Murder Investigations
The documentary highlights one particularly disturbing case involving teenage drug dealer Rayis Nibeel from Luton, who is believed to have purchased 65 knives through 13 separate online orders with DNA Leisure before the ban. His purchases included ninja swords and bayonets. Nibeel and another youth were later convicted of stabbing a 38-year-old man to death in 2023, though none of the knives he bought were ever recovered. A police officer involved in the case commented: 'That just fills me with dread, because there's 65 murders waiting to happen.'
Unanswered Questions About Border Security
The true-crime investigation failed to answer the fundamental question of how Chinese manufacturers managed to export such large quantities of these weapons into the UK without hindrance from police or import inspectors. The documentary asks why these dangerous cargos weren't confiscated at the border as obvious threats to public safety, noting that once the knives are sold, police have lost their opportunity to prevent potential crimes.
The Ongoing Online Threat
Although DNA Leisure has now ceased trading, the documentary reveals that typing those two words into Google still directs users to other online sites selling knives. This raises another pressing question: why are search engines permitted to make purchasing weapons online so straightforward? The ease of access continues to facilitate the distribution of deadly blades despite legislative efforts to curb their availability.
The Human Cost of Knife Crime
The statistics presented in the programme are truly horrific. Nearly 100 young people were stabbed to death in Britain last year, with 17 victims aged 15 or younger. One boy interviewed for the documentary explained: 'Kids mostly carry knives to protect themselves, and they're mostly around our age, like 12, 13.' The programme featured two heartbreaking cases involving teenagers Ashraf Habimana and Ronan Kanda, both unarmed when they were killed. Their families made emotional pleas for politicians and police to take more decisive action.
A Call for Stronger Prevention
As officers were shown stacking away mountains of confiscated knives, the documentary made a powerful case for preventing these murder weapons from entering the country in the first place. With border security failures allowing thousands of zombie knives to slip through undetected, and online platforms continuing to facilitate their distribution, the investigation highlights systemic weaknesses that require urgent attention from authorities at every level.
