Police crackdown at Wimbledon nets major arrests
England July 15 2017 Money laundering, immigration offences, assault and possession of Class A drugs are among the reasons for arrests made at Wimbledon this year.
The Metropolitan Police have been operating the biggest crackdown in Championships history, with armed officers patrolling the All England Club.
Just two days of the Grand Slam event remain, with the women’s singles final between Venus Williams and Garbine Muguruza on Saturday and Roger Federer the hot favourite to win a record eighth title on Centre Court on Sunday.
Figures seen by Sportsmail reveal there have been a total of 19 reports of crime and nine arrests over the fortnight so far.
Security staff search bags at the gates and occasionally perform body searches, with three arrests made by Met officers for possession of a pointed or bladed article. Others were taken into custody for shoplifting, two counts of actual bodily harm and affray, and a public-order offence.
Security has been stepped up in response to the terror attacks in Manchester and London. Insiders say they believe the tournament has gone off more ‘peacefully’ as a result.
Meanwhile, the BBC are expected to suffer a TV ratings dip across the weekend after British stars Andy Murray and Jo Konta were knocked out.
The BBC’s biggest audience stands at 7.4million for Konta’s win over Simona Halep. Rafael Nadal v Gilles Muller is second on 6.7m, followed by Murray v Fabio Fognini on 6.6m.
