A shop owner was arrested by police after a cache of deadly-looking weapons was seized during a raid on his business.

Malcolm Beith was arrested at his Sword Shop in Lancing when eight police officers executed a search warrant, following complaints from residents and councillors about the types of weapons being sold there.

Officers are today investigating whether his selling the weapons constituted an offence and if he should be prosecuted.

But Mr Beith insists they are no more than benign collector's ornaments and says he is a legitimate businessman, entitled to sell the copy knives, push daggers, throwing knives and swords that police confiscated.

The 49-year-old father-of-three, from Hove, said: "It's all a misunderstanding. These items are not tempered or sharpened like the real thing - you could find more deadly weapons in kitchen drawers." Sussex Police are not convinced and they were continuing to hold the weapons while seeking advice from the Crown Prosecution Service.

Officers from Adur's Neighbourhood Specialist Team executed the warrant on Saturday at Mr Beith's The Sword Shop in Crabtree Arcade, Lancing.

Mr Beith was arrested on suspicion of the unlawful marketing of knives and offering for sale prohibited offensive weapons. He was released on police bail pending further inquiries until March 1.

Inspector Howard Hodges, from Adur police, said: "We currently are carrying out investigations to establish whether or not the items being sold were in fact prohibited and what offences may or may not have been committed.

"It could be the case that just by possessing these weapons people are breaking the law."

He said some of the "fearsome-looking" weapons were on sale for as little as £20 and he was concerned even youngsters on a paperboy's income could buy one.

The police investigation will focus on the various clauses of the Knife Act of 1997, which says it is unlawful to market a knife deemed suitable for combat or is "otherwise likely to stimulate or encourage violent behaviour involving the use of the knife as a weapon".

Offenders face a maximum £500 fine or six months in prison on summary conviction or two years and heavier fines if convicted at crown court. But it is a defence if it is proved the weapon is an antique or curio, or "there were no reasonable grounds for suspecting that a person into whose possession the knife might come would use it for an unlawful purpose."

Mr Beith's former shop in Old Shoreham Road, Hove, was visited by armed police in 2004 after a customer was seen loading a pistol which turned out to be a BB gun. Mr Beith, a battle re-enactment enthusiast, agreed to stop selling the pistols.