A month-long weapons amnesty has resulted in about 40 mostly bladed articles being handed in to surrender bins and police stations around the island.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Martin Weekes and Andrew Murdoch, the Governor, sat down with The Royal Gazette at Hamilton Police Station to talk through the haul, which included three rifles and an imitation pistol. They also spoke of the overall success of the exercise.

While many of the arms collected were antiques, memorabilia and decorative items for display purposes only, the collection did include items that have long been prohibited as well as newly prohibited weapons including a zombie knife and butterfly knife.

Under the Criminal Code (Prohibited Weapons) Order 1980, there are 11 items listed as “prohibited” and a further eight were added recently ahead of the amnesty, giving people the opportunity to dispose of them.

Within the haul were Samurai-style swords, daggers and folding knives as well as items such as cigarette lighters in the shape of guns and a pointed letter opener that resembles a miniature sword, complete with scabbard.

Mr Weekes said: “There’s lots of variety, as you can see. It’s mainly bladed weapons — there are some that are prohibited and things that people had in their houses they were concerned about and just wanted to drop off.

“We did get an antique police truncheon, which was interesting, but I think that might go into the police museum.

“We have a couple of military bayonets that possibly have some historical reference to them. There is an old German army officer’s dagger with a swastika on it and a Gurkha kukri [knife].

“A lot of these things you cannot carry without lawful excuse. They are offensive weapons under the Criminal Code Act.”

He added: “Some of them are obviously not intended for harm, but you also see weapons with sharpened edges, so they are not just for display. However, all of this stuff is dangerous.

“We had the rifles come into the police stations, as dropping a firearm of any kind into the bins is not safe.

“We also had one that appears to be an imitation pistol that was mounted onto a wall plaque.”

The amnesty began on November 18 as a proactive approach to removing “dangerous items” in circulation from the community. It came to an end on Thursday.

Mr Weekes said none of the weapons could definitively be linked to any specific crime.

He explained: “We do look at everything that comes in. Anything suspected to have been involved in a crime, we would be forensically testing it. As it stands, that is not the case.

“It is quite possible that some of these knives might have been involved in crimes, but we don’t have anything to link them to a specific crime at this point.”

Both Mr Murdoch and Mr Weekes considered the amnesty a success.

Mr Weekes said: “This was a joint initiative with police, Government House and the Ministry of National Security, and from the BPS’s point of view, we are very pleased.”

Mr Murdoch added: “When we started this, there was the question of whether it would work and what success would look like.

“You give people an opportunity to make the streets safer by handing in these weapons. They could have a benign intent originally, but all of these things can be used to harm people. Any firearm off the street is, for me, a success”

The amnesty was put into place as new items were added to the prohibited list.

Mr Murdoch continued: “It is also a success in the sense that when you bring in a new law for the new prohibited weapons, it feels like the right thing to do — you give people the opportunity to get rid of it beforehand.”

Mr Weekes added: “This is just one part of the bigger picture of tackling knife crime. We have been doing 315F road checks under the Criminal Code, particularly at big events. We are still doing those and we are still catching people going to events with bladed weapons.”

Referring to the fatal shooting that occurred on the final day of the amnesty, Mr Weekes emphasised that the weapons amnesty was specifically around bladed articles.

He said: “This wasn’t a firearms amnesty; we weren’t expecting that to change the firearms picture.”

More weapons amnesties could be organised, Mr Murdoch and Mr Weekes said, especially if further items end up prohibited.

Mr Weekes explained: “We tie these things around changes in legislation. We are looking at potentially prohibiting knives where, even though the blade is short, it locks out.”

The bins were located outside the island’s three police stations in Hamilton, Southside and Somerset, as well as at Warwick Camp and the two Gorham’s locations — central and west.

Most of the weapons were handed in to the police stations and the only location not to receive items was Gorham’s in the west.

Mr Weekes thanked the community for their support during the amnesty.

He said: “I would like to thank everyone who came and dropped stuff off, and I’d like to thank everyone who encouraged someone else to get rid of something.

“I’d also like to thank Gorham’s and the Royal Bermuda Regiment for hosting some of the bins. If we do have another amnesty, we might expand to other places.

“I want to encourage people, even though the amnesty has finished, that we will still accept anything that is dangerous; if you just need someone to get rid of it safely, we will take it from you.

“You can call us on the 211 number and we will happily get it out of your hands and dispose of it.”