Even though it meant losing more than £750 worth of goods Mr Nasir decided that he did not want to sell the knives and liaised with Police Community Support Officers and Newham's anti-social behaviour unit to safely dispose of them.

Mayor of Newham, Sir Robin Wales and executive member for anti-social behaviour, Councillor June Leitch, visited the shop to thank Mr Nasir for his support in fighting crime and anti-social behaviour in Newham.

Councillor Leitch said: "We have a serious problem in Newham with our young people being stabbed on the streets. Mr Nasir has clearly communicated that he doesn't want to contribute to the problem. I encourage shopkeepers and the wider community to do the same and focus on getting crime and fear of crime off the streets.

"Mr Nasir is a shining example to the rest of the community. He has handed in more than 300 lethal weapons and I commend him for this."

Newham Council are working to reduce levels of crime in the borough.

Newham's parks constabulary officers carry out weekly knife and weapon sweeps of parks as a preventative measure to keep communities safer in green space amenity areas.

The safer schools programme continues to attempt to positively influence schoolchildren and educate against the carrying of weapons.

Operation blunt is in action to reduce knife crime and serious youth violence focusing on victims and perpetrators under 20 years. As part of the operation Police are using highly visible stop and search activities at crime hotspots. Since May 28 Police have conducted 42 activities aimed at knife crime and serious youth violence.

Priority crime in Newham is significantly lower compared to this time last year.

• Personal robbery is down 27 per cent
• Knife crime is down 43 per cent
• Youth violence is down 27 per cent
• Serious acquisitive crime is down by 13 per cent

Mayor of Newham, Sir Robin Wales, said: "Operation blunt is a great example of the council working in partnership with the Police to eradicate crime and anti-social behaviour from the borough. The drop in levels of crime has been largely due to the concentration by Police and partners on the young people within the borough. Fear of crime is disproportionately high amongst these residents and is not representative of the amount of crime that actually occurs."

Chief Inspector Gary Brown, Newham Police, said: "This is a significant development in our work to reduce the level of knife crime in Newham. I wish to thank and commend Mr Nasir for working with Newham Police and Newham Council. His act has taken 300 knives off our streets that could have caused great harm to our communities. I would ask other shop keepers to consider taking the same approach. I am delighted that the community has felt that it can support us in trying to achieve safer streets for all those who live, work or pass through Newham.

'In the first three months of this financial year knife crime in Newham has decreased by 42.8% compared with last year. Working in partnership with the local authority is making a huge difference to the level of knife crime. Mr Nasir's actions have greatly assisted us, but our work engaging with young people in Newham continues until we do even better'.