MILLIONS of pounds worth of assets have been seized by Hampshire Police to stop villains making merry with the proceeds from their criminal deeds.

This is revealed in the Hampshire Constabulary's latest peformance figures.

The county's police used the Proceeds of Crime Act to disrupt the lifestyle of criminals by seizing assets to the tune of £8.3m.

In an upbeat report force chiefs say that Hampshire and the Isle of Wight remain among the safest in the country.

There has been a drop in the number of recorded house burglaries which fell by nearly 400. The majority of burglary victims - 90 per cent - say they are happy with the overall service they receive.

Hampshire and the Isle of Wight had one of the lowest homicide rates in the country and of the 20 recorded over April 2006/7 only one remains undetected.

Hampshire Police has also had big success on the drug busting scene. The force had a target of arresting 400 people on suspicion of Class A drug offences - and achieved 407.

Detection rates were also up. The force was set a target of achieving a 25 per cent detection rate, and achieved 21.6 per cent. However, at the beginning of the year, the detection rate stood at around 17 per cent.

Last month the force beat its monthly detection target by reaching 26 per cent - the second highest in the history of the force, and an increase of 2,500 on the previous year.