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A dedicated knife crime team in Cardiff is to be expanded and a further unit created in Swansea, South Wales Police has announced.
The expansion of "Op Sceptre" will be paid for out of a £1.2m allocation from the Home Office.
The cash will also pay for preventative community work with young people, and back-office support for the new teams.
Chief Constable Matt Jukes said the issues faced in the two cities were "significant".
"They may not be as great as some other cities, but they are tragedies for the families who are affected by terrible offences," he added.
The Op Sceptre team, named after a national initiative led by the Metropolitan Police, was set up last summer initially as a 12-month pilot to reduce knife crime and related offences in Cardiff.
The force said in the last 12 months they had:
- arrested 220 people
- taken 90 weapons off the streets
- seized more than £82,000 worth of drugs and £77,500 in cash
- conducted 758 stop searches
- helped secure custodial sentences totalling 22 years and three months.
Supt Wendy Gunney, the force's lead for knife crime, said: "We have found there is a clear link between knife crime and drug supply in Cardiff."
She added the Op Sceptre teams would be "making it uncomfortable for anyone who matches the profile of those involved in knife crime and drugs".
The Home Office money will also go towards community work such as projects by Street Games and the Crimestoppers Fearless campaign to divert young people away from criminality.
Knife crime in Wales rose to record levels in 2018 - with a 23% rise over the previous year.