Gold Coast police find teen armed with meat cleaver in wand trial

A 16-year-old boy is among those arrested armed with dangerous weapons in a police metal detecting trial at Surfers Paradise.

Police have released footage of the arrest of a dangerously armed teenager on the Gold Coast as part of a metal detecting trial.

The 16-year-old was arrested in Surfers Paradise on Thursday night during the ‘wanding’ trial which began last month as part of the State Government’s youth crime crackdown.

Officers allegedly discovered a large knife, homemade shiv, methylamphetamine and drug utensils on the Redland Bay teen.

He was arrested at the scene and charged with one count each of possessing a knife in a public place, possessing dangerous drugs and possessing drug utensils.

Police have seized a meat cleaver, an axe, a hammer eight knives and two shivs as part of the wanding trial.

The meat cleaver was seized from a 16-year-old Redland Bay boy in Surfers Paradise on Thursday night.

Police Minister Mark Ryan Chief with the new wand. Picture: Tertius Pickard

Gold Coast police Superintendent Rhys Wildman also revealed that a man had been found with a knife at the popular Blues on Broadbeach festival on Saturday night.

“That’s a concern for us,” he said.

Supt Wildman said 334 people had been ‘wanded’ since the trial began four weeks ago, with eight people arrested for illegal weapon possession.

As well, police had detected 35 other offences for crimes including drug possession and breaching bail.

Brett Beasley, whose 17-year-old son Jack was stabbed to death in Surfers Paradise in 2019 and has been pushing for the wanding trial through the Jack Beasley Foundation, said the metal detectors were ‘absolutely’ saving lives.

“If these had of been around a few years ago, I’m quite confident that Jack’s life have been saved,” he said.

“We need to save more lives. We can’t have anyone else’s family go through the grief we’ve been through here with losing our son in Surfers Paradise.

“This is not a movie or video game … you bring a knife out and there’s no turning back. Don’t touch knives. Leave them at home.

“Come to the beach, have a swim, that’s it.”