THREE men from the region have been arrested as part of a nationwide operation to stop people buying and selling banned weapons over the internet.

North Yorkshire Police's Firearms Support Unit carried out three raids as part of Operation Bembridge

A man was arrested at a house in Thirsk after officers seized a replica handgun. He received a police caution.

A Richmond man was arrested and later cautioned for possessing and importing a prohibited weapon and a man was arrested in Selby after a stun-gun found. He is on bail while inquiries continue.

The police operation began with the monitoring of internet sites, including one based in France, said to be used to buy and sell banned weapons such as stun guns, capable of delivering a 50,000 volt shock, and replica weapons that can easily be converted to fire live rounds. They included four machine guns, 13 rifles, 108 pistols and more than 5,000 rounds of ammunition.

The force's head of tactical operations, Superintendent Martin Deacon said: "Quite simply, we don't know why an individual might buy one of these banned replicas. He might be a cowboy fan who just wants to hang a replica Colt over his mantelpiece - or he might have converted the replica into a genuinely deadly weapon and be planning an armed robbery.

"So anyone who makes such a purchase stands a very real chance of having a group of armed police knocking on his door.

"It is bad for the individual and his family, bad for the neighbours' peace of mind, and a bad waste of a lot of police time. And the individual involved is putting himself into danger."

Meanwhile, police in London yesterday revealed a hoard of illegal arms seized as part of Operation Bembridge in London, which involved raids on 48 homes across the capital in the past four days.

One officer said: ''We were amazed at how many guns there were - we were only expecting to find about 20 but there's enough for a small army.

''It's terrifying to think these were out on the street and we just don't know how many more are out there.'' A total of 37 people have been arrested for possessing illegal firearms and now face minimum five-year jail terms.