UK Border Force officers have warned of an emerging trend of "cutters" flying into Britain to practise female genital mutilation (FGM).

The announcement comes following a summer-long push to tackle FGM at the UK's borders.

Officers at Gatwick airport say they have made a "significant impact" after specially trained child protection squads teamed up with police to target specific flights this summer.

Joe Cuddy, the senior Border Force officer at Gatwick, leads training sessions there for more than 70 officers.

He said a small number of cases involving a potential cutter had been referred to police.

In one instance a man was found entering the UK with photograph of a family, a bloodied cloth in a ladies' handbag in his luggage, and a jar containing dirty water and sand, which they suspect was used to clean a blade.

Investigations into the man are ongoing, but Cuddy said there was a suspicion the paraphernalia could have been used as "proof" for someone in UK that a potential future bride had been cut.

FGM involves removing part or all of a girl's outer sexual organs and is carried out in many African countries as well as areas of the Middle East.

"Instead of the girls being removed from the UK to go back to the country of origin to have this procedure carried out, now there are cutters travelling from the country of origin to the UK to carry it out in London and in other cities," Cuddy said,

"That is an emerging trend that we have found as a result of this initiative."

Cuddy said he hoped for a "positive outcome" in a couple of such cases that had been referred to police.

The operation has seen the implementation of an 80-strong team of specialist child protection officers at Heathrow and teams of 65 at Gatwick and 21 at Manchester.

The officers are also trained to deal with trafficking and forced marriage.

A new team has been put in place at the port of Harwich in Essex, with specialised FGM training also planned at the ports of Calais and Dunkirk, and at Birmingham, Stansted and London City airports.

The Home Office said no specific figures were yet available, but staff at Gatwick said as part of Operation Eris – launched in July – more than 30 families had been stopped and several referrals had been made.

Last year, when the safeguarding teams had not yet been set up, no referrals were made during the same period.

"We have worked hard to make people aware of what we are doing, and for those who might have been thinking about doing this, they now now that operations are taking place on the border. That is not tangible but is important for prevention," said Cuddy.

The beefed up teams focus on flights to and from high risk destinations, such as Gambia and other African nations where FGM is practised. Other flights to locations which act as travel hubs, such as Istanbul and Dubai, are also targeted.

During a routine operation on Wednesday, Border Force agents stopped and talked to passengers arriving from Istanbul, asking for details about their journeys.

One woman travelling from Sudan, where she said she and her children had been for a wedding, was stopped and her children were also questioned.

"It does require different skills," said Angie Fishwick, a senior officer. "We are enforcement officers, but when it comes to this we have to go softly because there is nothing more important than the safety of the child."

The team of largely female officers, nicknamed "the Gatwick Angels", are committed to their task.

"We are all women and we are part of that message – saying this should not be happening. End of," said Fishwick.

Her colleague Sharon Morris added: "We are not going to save the world. But if we stop this happening to even one girl, then it was worth doing this job."

• This article was amended on 12 September 2014 to correct the spelling of Joe Cuddy's name, from Cruddy as an earlier version said.