A CONTROVERSIAL Glasgow shop was at the centre of a major police raid today.

Lethal weapons, including samurai swords and batons, were seized when officers swooped on the Victor Morris store in Argyle Street. A nearby lingerie shop, also owned by Martin Morris - Silks & Secrets - was also raided in today's operation.

A team of 20 officers brought out weapons in protective bags from that store.

Shop was slated for 'gun' sales THE store has been condemned previously for selling realistic-looking replica guns that could be used in armed robberies. In 2001 detectives seized a cache of replica handguns from the shop. A dozen officers took away eight imitation firearms, which they said could have been converted into lethal weapons. Three years later shop boss Martin Morris promised to move to Carlisle after a crackdown on the sale of knives and swords was unveiled by the then Scottish Executive. The manager admitted selling 20 to 30 knives a week.

Police pounced on the Victor Morris shop as staff were opening up for the morning.

Uniformed and plain-clothed officers entered the shop with a search warrant.

A huge container was then lowered by crane on to the road outside.

Soon after, police began to bring out confiscated stock from the shop and placed it in shelves in the container.

An officer with a ledger recorded everything that was removed.

Superintendent Bob Hamilton, head of the violence reduction unit at Strathclyde Police, said: "Months of intelligence has led us to believe that second-hand goods have allegedly been sold from Victor Morris and Silks & Secrets.

"Both premises were searched under warrant and it is believed the goods were sold without a licence to deal in second-hand goods.

"At Victor Morris in particular it is believed that weapons that may be illegal are on sale and any of these found will be seized and confiscated.

"It is the very early stages of the operation but we expect that a number of items may be seized during the day."

Owner Mr Morris turned up shortly after police arrived and shouted at our reporter before going inside the shop to talk to the officers.

The operation at the shop was expected to take several hours, and nobody has been arrested.

Today's operation was the latest in a series of raids on city stores.

During an earlier swoop in the city, more than 7000 weapons were seized from one store alone.

Superintendent Hamilton added: "Reducing violence remains a priority and we will look at any contributory factor which could help combat this.

"This is one strand of our investigation and a key element to reduce the number of victims of violent crime."