268 found to be armed

POLICE caught 268 people carrying offensive weapons in the Lothian and Borders area during searches over nine months, new figures have shown.

Officers carried out a total of 7991 searches between April and December last year. During the same period in the previous year, 6921 searches produced 267 “positive” recoveries of weapons.

Meanwhile, 9717 searches for drugs during the same period last year produced 1026 drug finds. The total was 719 “positive” results for drug possession during 9458 searches between April and December 2010.