EXCLUSIVE

THUGS are buying knives disguised as everyday items in a bid to smuggle them into pubs and clubs undetected.

As the country remains in the grip of a knife-crime epidemic – with more than 260 people stabbed to death so far this year – Christmas revellers have been caught trying to get blades disguised as pens or credit cards into nightclubs.

The credit card knife is a thin metal device the size of a bank card that can slip into a wallet, but be folded into a razor sharp blade in seconds.

The Sunday Express found both the pen and credit card knives available for just a few pounds on US websites, some of which targeted UK customers with prices in sterling.

Gaz Marsden, head doorman of Essex-based Regency Security, revealed on Facebook that bouncers in Brentwood had confiscated a blade hidden in a pen. He said he posted the image to show what he and fellow doormen were having to face.

He wrote: “To all my doormen friends. We confiscated this on our door last night. Young lad was carrying