Man arrested after car full of knives and cannabis leads police on a chase along Hornsey Road

The driver of a car full of cannabis and huge knives led police on a chase along Hornsey Road before crashing their car last night.

A man was arrested in Ashley Road after the pursuit, which ended when the white Audi crashed in Shaftesbury Road.

It began when police carried out a vehicle check at 11.45pm in Hornsey Road. As they were doing so, the driver sped off. After arresting the 23-year-old man officers were able to properly search the car and found 11 knives and a large quantity of cannabis.

The man was held on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon, possession with intent to supply class B drugs and failing to stop for police. He was also shown as wanted over a robbery in April 2018 on the police computer.

He was further arrested on suspicion of GBH with intent in connection with an incident in which a firearms officer was driven at and injured last month.

Supt Philip Ryan, from the Met's Specialist Firearms Command, said: "This was an excellent piece of work by my officers which has stopped a large quantity of dangerous weapons and drugs entering the wrong hands.

"There is no doubt these weapons would have been used in violence on the streets of London.

"A team of experienced officers will now lead an investigation into the man arrested and the weapons we found in the vehicle. We will continue to arrest those intent on carrying weapons and committing acts of violence."

Islington commander Raj Kohli said: "This is a great example of colleagues across the Met working together to prevent and tackle violent crime and drug dealing across the capital. I want to reassure communities we have officers out day and night working to identify and arrest those involved in, or intent on committing acts of serious violence."

A section 60 order, giving police increased stop and search powers, was in place until 7am this morning.