The Apprentice star and his brother who ran a multi-million pound knife empire and raked in £400k in taxpayers’ money…even after their weapons have been linked to not less than 14 murders

An Apprentice star and his brother whose websites sold weapons linked to at least 14 murders in Britain raked in nearly £400,000 by surrendering zombie knives under a controversial Government scheme.

Adam Eliaz, who appeared on Lord Sugar‘s Young Apprentice aged 17 in 2010, and his older brother Eddy have been accused of ‘profiting’ selling zombie knives and ninja swords online.

Police say blades from Adam’s business, DNA Leisure, and Eddy’s website, Sporting Wholesale, have been linked to at least 14 murders – including 16-year-old Ronan Kanda, who was killed with a 22-inch ninja sword in Wolverhampton in June 2022. 

The brothers’ multi-million pound knife selling empire, which they both operated from warehouses in Luton, Bedfordshire, came to an end when the Government introduced a ban on zombie knives on September 24, 2024.

It is now illegal to own a knife with a sharpened blade longer than 8in (20cm) if it also has features including a serrated edge, more than one hole in the blade, spikes and more than two sharp points. 

Adam attracted criticism after encouraging his customers to buy up his stock of zombie knives ahead of the ban. But he drew the ire of the families of murder victims, when he and his brother received huge payments from a controversial scheme, where the Home Office offered to pay a minimum of £10 per knife handed in.

The millionaire brothers accounted for an astonishing 78 per cent of the 47,795 knives surrendered during the month-long compensation scheme, according to police and Home Office figures. With Adam’s DNA Leisure handing in 1,500 knives and Eddy’s Sporting Wholesale surrendering 35,800, the brothers were paid at least £373,000 from the taxpayer-funded scheme.

The brothers are understood to dispute the figures or making a profit but the payments to them raise questions over the handling of the scheme, which critics say had ‘huge flaws’. A Home Office impact statement shows the Home Office thought owners would hand in 472 blades, resulting in a £14,000 total pay out – a massive underestimate.

Adam made it clear he was willing to do whatever it takes to make money from an early age. He left school at 16, setting up a business selling fishing and camping equipment and appeared on Young Apprentice aged 17.

He said in the opening of the series: ‘I love making money. I’ll scrub floors to make money to be honest. I’ll do anything if it brings money in my pocket.’

Speaking later of his time on TV, he admitted: ‘Alan Sugar told me I was too much of a nice guy, so I’ve kind of changed that now.’

Adam set up DNA Leisure with the support of his brother Eddy, who owned Sporting Wholesale, a bulk importer that sourced the products cheaply from China and sold them to retailers in the UK. They specialise in fishing, shooting and archery gear.

By 2017, Sporting Wholesale were turning over £8million and declaring profits of more than £2.5million. According to their most recent finances, in the year ending December 2024, their total equity was £2.7million. Their stock, however, dropped from being worth £5.2million in 2023 to £3.4million in 2024.

Both Sporting Wholesale and DNA Leisure sold items under the Anglo Arms brand. But after the Government said they would offer compensation for zombie knives, they handed in the remaining stock.

Knives and swords bought from DNA Leisure were used to kill Ronan Kanda, 16, in Wolverhampton in June 2022; Rahaan Amin, 16, in Newham, east London in July 2023; and Omar Khan, 39 in Luton in September 2023.

After the death of her brother, Ronan’s sister Nikita wrote to Adam, telling him that a ninja sword set had been purchased from DNA Leisure. It cost just £16.99. 

Nikita, who features in the Channel 4 documentary 24 Hours in Police Custody Investigates: Zombie Knives, added: ‘How many of your sales have fallen into the wrong hands and led to innocent people being murdered?’

Adam sent a chilling response back, comparing zombie knifes to ‘stamp collecting’.

‘Hello Nikita,’ he wrote. ‘I am sorry for my delay in replying to you. I have been on holiday and was then off, unwell. The swords, machetes and larger items you are concerned about… our customers buy these just to keep at home, like people collect stamps. It really is no different and, in fact, no more dangerous, really.’ 

‘How are you comparing a machete to a stamp? I don’t remember people picking up stamps and killing people,’ said Nikita.

‘I thought he was a gigantic idiot who literally didn’t care. He was just trying to justify his behaviour.’ 

It’s understood the brothers are threatening taking legal action over their portrayal in the documentary as they claim the email exchanges were cherry-picked to make them look bad and that Adam had offered his condolences. 

Nikita told the Daily Mail: ‘It is sickening to think how many murders Adam and Eddy Eliaz have been linked to through selling disgusting knives that are clearly designed to seriously harm or kill, yet marketed as harmless “collectibles“. 

‘Their weapons were sold into the hands of teenagers and young people, and my innocent brother, Ronan Kanda, was one of the many lives taken as a result of this horrific trade.

‘I cannot understand how Adam and Eddy Eliaz were allowed to continue operating for so long, exposing young people to these weapons and encouraging a culture where owning a lethal knife was treated like a hobby. 

‘Even though they raked in a significant amount of money from the surrender and compensation schemes, I am at least relieved that these weapons are finally being taken out of circulation and are no longer being flooded onto our streets in the same way.’

She added: ‘He made profit off that weapon so as I see it, he was basically profiting off my brother’s murder.’

Ronan was stabbed to death with a 22-inch ninja sword by 16-year-olds Prabjeet Veadhesa and Sukhman Shergill close to his family home in Wolverhampton.

Veadhesa bought the sword, and 25 other blades, from DNA Leisure over the course of six months using someone else’s ID, selling many of them on for a profit. He collected the two-sword set carried by himself and Shergill from the post office the day they murdered Ronan.

The pair then ran up to Ronan from behind as he left a friend’s house and stabbed him. He was not their intended target: they mistook him for the friend whose house he was leaving, with whom they had disagreed about money.

Baby-faced Veadhesa and Shergill were jailed for life in July 2023, and are serving minimum terms of 18 and 16 years respectively.

Trial judge Mr Justice Chowdhury said Veadhesa had an ‘unhealthy fascination with knives’ and that those he bought were ‘frightening even to look at’.

He continued: ‘These were for the most part large machetes and swords which have no legitimate use on our streets. It is disturbing that a 16-year-old could so easily purchase such items online.

‘The businesses engaged in this kind of trade should reflect on their facilitation of knife crime and the devastating consequences for the lives of so many.’

DNA Leisure and Sporting Wholesale say they did not sell knives prohibited under the legal definition at the time of sale and complied immediately when legislation was updated. 

DNA Leisure said it made a ‘commercial decision’ to stop selling ‘bladed articles on our website from the 13th of June [2024]’.

Sporting Wholesale continue to import and sell fishing equipment and crossbows.  

The Mail previously sought to contact Adam at a family home address in Watford, Hertfordshire. There, we spoke to a man claiming to be Adam’s father, who said Adam had relocated to Canada.

Asked what he thought of his son selling knives to killers, he pointed at his luxury SUV in the driveway and said: ‘If I went out and killed someone with this, would you ban all of these?

‘If my son’s website was not here people would find other ways to buy these.’

He added that he believed 80 per cent of DNA Leisure’s sales were from fishing equipment. This claim could not be verified. 

Adam previously said: ‘We are deeply saddened by any loss of life, and our hearts go out to the victims’ families. It is misleading to blame us for knife crime.

‘The misuse of these items is beyond our control and reflects broader societal issues related to gang and drug-related crimes.

‘Additionally, recent media coverage has increased our website traffic by over 500 per cent, attracting attention from individuals who may not have our products’ intended use in mind.

‘By mentioning our company, the media inadvertently brings the wrong kind of attention to our site, potentially exacerbating the issue they claim to be concerned about.

‘The vast majority of our customers, like the general population are normal, law-abiding individuals. Fully aware of the laws and behave sensibly.

‘A knife isn’t a weapon, unless a person turns it into one. The products we sell are collectables and tools which are used legally and safely by the vast majority of customers.’

Adam and Eddy have again been contacted for comment. They declined to appear on the Channel 4 documentary. 

A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘This government is committed to halving knife crime in a decade. Knife enabled homicides and robberies are down, and we have already banned zombie-style knives, machetes and ninja swords.

‘This has taken 60,000 knives off the streets and removed deadly weapons from circulation, with fewer victims and families bearing unimaginable loss.’