Armed police find guns cache in dawn raid

11:20am Thursday 23rd August 2007

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Armed police discovered a stash of weapons hidden inside a flat during a dawn raid.

Intelligence received by detectives led them to believe the man, who was living in a flat in Eaton Place, Brighton, had a stash of firearms.

Neighbours living in the quiet residential street described how they woke to find tactical firearms officers surrounding the property with the guns trained on the second floor windows.

After smashing down the door at just after 4am they discovered two guns and arrested the suspect, a man in his 20s, on firearms offences.

He was being quizzed by detectives last night while experts attempted to establish whether the guns recovered were real or replicas.

In total around 20 officers were involved in the raid, which ended shortly after 9am.

One neighbour told The Argus: "It was terrifying, I woke up and thought they were going to smash my door down.

"Before I knew what was happening they had taken him away."

The woman added that she believed the male suspect was a relative of the owner of the property.

The owner of the property is thought to be away on holiday.

Another neighbour said he believed the raid came after an "incident" on Wednesday night.

Geoff Randall, 46, said: "We heard noises and loud bangs coming from the building about 8pm on Wednesday and somebody stormed out of it.

"We went to bed but the next thing we knew all hell broke lose about 4am and the place was swarming with police.

"My first reaction was it was about drugs but then the rumour went around that they had found guns.

"They bought the guy out in handcuffs not long after going in."

Percy Taylor, 52, added: "They did a good job, got in quick and got the guy out even quicker.

"It was like something out of Apocalypse Now at one point with all the guns around. But you'd rather the guns were in the hands of the police than anyone else."

Police wearing masks smashed their way into the communal ground floor door of the building using a battering ram.

It is understood they then raced to the top floor and also battered down the door of the property.

Other residents were warned to stay inside their homes while the operation was carried out.

A police spokeswoman said: "We carried out a raid at about 4.15 am after receiving some information relating to firearms.

"We have arrested a man in his 20s. Two firearms were recovered."