A TERRIFYING haul of more than 150 deadly knives and other weapons - including a cross bow and a samurai sword - were seized during a raid on a home in Hampshire yesterday.

Officers from the Serious and Organised Crime Unit (SOCO) swooped on houses in Fareham and the Isle of Wight at 7am.

The weapons - which were all found in the house in Fareham - were possibly for auction and although no street value can be placed on them, they could potentially fetch thousands of pounds.

A computer hard drive was also seized.

A second raid was also carried out at a property in Newchurch, Isle of Wight.

The warrants are the first under Hampshire police's anti-knife crime strategy Operation Sharp, aimed at disrupting and preventing knife crime across the two counties.

It comes as the Daily Echo continues its campaign against knife crime, following several deaths in the county this year where people were stabbed.

Both addresses raided were identified as part of ongoing research into illegal knife sales by individual vendors via eBay.

The weapons were yesterday taken to Fleet where they will be examined and stored.

Det Insp David Collings, from the Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: "Internet companies, although only a market place for vendors, have a duty to ensure that they are operating within the law and illegal knives must not be sold.

"The weapons which contravene the law under the terms of the Knives Act are any that are designed and made to harm people."

Det Chief Insp Jason Hogg, who heads up Operation Sharp, said: "We will be examining the computer for records, and anyone who we find in Hampshire who has brought such items from these vendors will be contacted by police and asked to hand the knives over.

"Many of the knives seized are obviously designed to cause harm - and they are the ones that we need to take out of circulation.

"A lot of murders are caused with kitchen knives and looking at reducing that is a separate part of our strategy, but it is also vital for us to target illegal sales and make purchasing such weapons that are designed to cause harm as difficult as possible."

Three people have been arrested and were today being quizzed at stations across the county.

A 31-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman were arrested at the address in Fareham, and a 23-year-old man was arrested at the Newchurch property.