TWO people arrested in Hampshire in the latest stage of an ongoing operation targeting animal rights extremism have been released on bail.

A warrant was executed on Friday at a house in Alver Road, Gosport where a 24-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman were arrested. They were taken into custody at a police station in Hampshire.

Another warrant was executed at an address in Littlehampton in Sussex where a 50-year-old woman was arrested and quizzed at police station in Sussex. Police carried out searches of both properties.

A spokesman said on Saturday that all three were released on police bail until March pending further inquires.

The arrests were the latest phase of Operation Achilles, a regional police operation.

It involved officers from Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, Thames Valley and Surrey.

Last May police raided six homes across the Hampshire as part of the UK's largest ever clampdown on animal rights activists.

A total of 32 people were arrested across the country in the operation which involved 700 officers.

Sixteen have been charged. Six remain on bail. All charges relate to the group Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty.