Last updated at 16:22, Wednesday, 27 February 2013

ARMED police were deployed, five people were arrested and drugs and weapons were seized after a man was seen with a gun in Barrow.

GUN ALERT Barrow police officers patrol Schooner Street following an incident where a man was seen allegedly carrying a gun in the area JON GRANGER REF: 50045020B000

Twelve police, including armed officers and a dog handler, swooped on Island Road shortly after 9pm on Monday following reports of a man carrying a gun.

“Someone rang up just after 9pm and said ‘I have seen three lads and I think one of them had a gun’,” said Detective Inspector Rob O’Connor.

“We responded to it by sending down armed and unarmed officers and we found the three lads and all three have been detained.

“We saw them go into a house and once they left the house we detained them.”

A gun and knife were found when the men were arrested in Schooner Street at 9.40pm.

Thirty-five minutes later the police searched a house in Anchor Road, where a man and a woman were arrested and an imitation firearm and drugs were found.

Yesterday another man was arrested in Barrow town centre between 3am and 3.30am.

Four men aged 40, 45, 39 and 54 and a 23-year-old woman, all from Barrow, were last night in custody on suspicion of offences including possession of a loaded firearm in a public place, possession of a controlled drug, possession of an offensive weapon and possession of an imitation firearm.

DI O’Connor added: “Thankfully these incidents are very rare and we have taken positive action by recovering the firearms immediately and arresting people quickly.”

Anyone who may have seen three males together in the area of the Co-op store in Island Road just after 9pm on Monday is being asked to come forward and contact DI O’Connor on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

First published at 16:11, Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk