With two axes, machetes, a samurai sword and an ugly array of knives it looks like the kind of weapons haul that might be recovered on a troubled night in one of Britain's inner cities.

With two axes, machetes, a samurai sword and an ugly array of knives, it looked like the kind of weapons haul you might expect on a bad night in an inner city.

And yet the lethal armoury was what greeted Yarmouth crime prevention officer PC Pat Bailey when he took the lid off a weapons amnesty bin positioned behind the Golden Mile.

PC Bailey said: "We have operated weapons amnesty bins in Yarmouth for five or six years and continued to do so at the end of a nationwide initiative. We have two bins and move them around regularly. However, I was not expecting a large haul this time because the last time it was on Trafalgar Green a year ago, all we got were half-eaten beefburgers and chip packets."

The bin had been in place for little over a week. Other nasties included a baseball bat and a sock with two snooker balls in it. PC Bailey said: "These do not look like the sorts of things people have found in their garage or shed and decided to dispose of. It seems more likely they were carrying them around and dumped them in the bin after thinking better of it, perhaps after seeing a police patrol."

The bin will stay on Trafalgar Green for another two weeks.