A controversial graffiti artist who has daubed his work on other people's property all over the world has set his sights on a new target - Paris Hilton.

The mystery man known only as Banksy yesterday carried out one of his now famous art attacks at music stores in Brighton.

He secretly smuggled doctored Paris Hilton albums into record shops which he said he had "Punked up" and placed them on the shelves for sale.

To those who know Banksy's work, it is a familiar style of stunt for the man who has been known to smuggle his works into the Tate Britain gallery in London, place it on a wall and then stand back and wait until someone notices.

Other targets have included the Natural History Museum, where he installed a dead rat, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York where he placed an Andy Warhol-style painting depicting a tin of Tesco Value soup.

Each time he stood back and took photographs of confused staff as they discovered his work nestling among their genuine exhibits.

Yesterday, Banksy, the irreverent and mysterious artist best known for his graffiti murals such as a vision of paradise in Palestine's West Bank and the kissing policemen in Brighton's Prince Albert pub, scored his latest blow against the perceived establishment.

He took 500 copies of Paris Hilton's debut album, Paris, and given them his own unique makeover before smuggling them back into stores across the UK for sale.

But because they were sold inside a cardboard cover, none of the stores involved had been aware that they were selling the fake copies.

The Argus was tipped off by a customer and informed Brighton's Virgin Megastore and HMVs of their existence.

The music chains had no idea his stunt had run through all major UK stores and they said they had no choice but to remove them.

Virgin Megastore in Churchill Square had already removed the offending CDs but HMV reported they had seven left on the shelves across both city centre stores. However, fans of Banksy who got wind of the stunt rushed to the stores to try to buy a copy.

The Argus has a copy of the cheeky version which show Ms Hilton baring her breasts on the front cover.

On the front there is a sticker which claims her latest singles include "Why Am I Famous?", "What Have I Done?" and "What Am I For?"

A picture of Paris behind the CD has replaced her head with that of her pet dog and the inlay card which features lyrics to her songs has slogans such as "Every CD you buy puts me even further out of your league" emblazoned across it. One picture has been replaced to show Paris getting out of a car next to a number of homeless people with the slogan "90per cent of success is just showing up."

Instead of Paris' pop tunes and a separate DVD, Banksy has inserted his own CD which features 40 minutes of backbeat covered with samples of Paris from her show The Simple Life saying mostly "That's Hot".

The only sign that Banksy's handiwork had been involved is in the small print where he has included himself and "Mister DM", a reference to a famous record producer, in the credits of the inlay card in tiny print.

Banksy, who guards his anonymity, was out of the country last night but his spokeswoman said: "All the drops were done over the last week around the UK. It's a shame that they're not still on the shelves."

A spokesman for Virgin Megastore said: "We think it's very funny. It's a credit to him, very creative. He captures the Virgin spirit."

A spokesman for HMV UK said: "I think it's brilliant, it's kind of iconoclastic. He's knows how to make a very powerful statement and say more about something than most of us can generally articulate, about celebrities trying to make music and celebrity superficiality. The irony is they'll probably manage to sell more copies of the album."

Both said they would be likely to sell off any remaining copies in charity auctions as Banksy's name would make them valuable collectors items.