A teenager was arrested for carrying a knife after police chased him down in the early hours of this morning (January 13).

Officers from the Metropolitan Police's violent crime taskforce noticed the 17-year-old boy behaving suspiciously in Vicarage Lane, East Ham, last night.

He ran away when approached by police at around 1am and was chased by foot, before being detained in nearby Becket Avenue.

The boy was searched and was found to be carrying a knife.

Sergeant Ben Mullender said: "There can be no excuse for someone to be carrying a knife like this on our streets.

"My officers in the Violent Crime Taskforce are relentless in their efforts to tackle knife crime and thanks to them another weapon has been removed from the streets that may otherwise have been used to harm someone."

The teenager was arrested and remains in police custody.