- Five-foot bat’leth handed in at a station in Guernsey during two-week amnesty
- The four-handled sword is the weapon of choice of Star Trek’s iconic villains
- Hundreds of weapons were handed to officers in the two-week British amnesty
- They included a shotgun disguised as a walking stick, a crossbow and war guns
- Most of the items face destruction but some will be preserved in museums
A lethal Klingon war sword known as a bat’leth has been handed to police as part of a weapons amnesty.
The sword of choice for Star Trek’s most famous villains is five feet long, comprising four blades and a spike at its centre.
In the US franchise – first broadcast in 1966 – the weapon is said to have been forged by Kahless the Unforgettable on the Klingon home world of Qo’noS, but this one turned up in Guernsey.
The five-foot long weapon is central to Klingon culture in the Star Trek universe, where the aliens use it to batter opponents up-close
The bat’leth’s four handholds allow for high-speed spinning and facilitate close-range combat.
Though Klingons sometimes fight with disruptors (their equivalent of the phasers used by Captain Kirk and Starfleet), the bat’leth is a treasured tool in their society, which is fixated on honour, tradition and revenge.
Chief Inspector Phil Breban wields the Klingon war sword, which was handed in to the Channel Island authorities
Among the more terrestrial items handed in across the country were a shotgun disguised as a walking stick, a crossbow, a 1924 Webley air pistol and a 9mm Luger as the two-week amnesty turned up hundreds of weapons across the UK and Channel Islands.
Chief inspector Phil Breban says most of the items face destruction in the interest of public safety.
The bat’leth was handed in alongside shotguns, pistols and Katana swords to police in Guernsey as part of the amnesty
‘We have had a significant number of weapons handed in, including knives, swords, daggers, BB guns and even a crossbow, while we have also had weapons handed in in Sark and Alderney,’ he said.
‘This is ultimately about public safety. Pretty much all of them will be destroyed, although any with significant historical value or interest could go to a museum.
‘We are assessing them as we go and running the serial numbers against the national database in case any of them have been used to commit a crime.’