RESIDENTS told today of how they watched armed police swoop on a car in Felixstowe in a dramatic night-time incident.Officers with guns and dogs surrounded the car, which was stopped as part of a nationwide search for a missing young woman.

RESIDENTS told today of how they watched armed police swoop on a car in Felixstowe in a dramatic night-time incident.

Officers with guns and dogs surrounded the car, which was stopped as part of a nationwide search for a missing young woman.

Police taking part in the operation are understood to have believed the men in the silver Golf GTi were carrying guns.

The incident happened on Sunday evening about 8.30pm outside the Walton Surgery at the junction of Walton High Street and Maidstone Road.

One resident of Maidstone Road said he was watching TV with his brother when they heard a commotion outside.

He said: “We came out and there were armed police everywhere - it was incredible.

“They were shouting, 'Get out of the car, get down on the ground', and all pointing their guns at the vehicle.

“I could see one man get out and lay down on the road, and then dogs were sent over, and we thought it must be something to do with drugs and someone said the men in the car had guns.”

Another resident said: “It was quite amazing and quite frightening, too, like something off a TV drama - half the time we just wanted to close the curtains and not look, but on other hand it was quite fascinating.

“There must have been six police cars and we could see the officers were armed. It looked very serious.”

A Walton High Street resident said he had heard police cars “hammering down the road” to the incident.

He said: “You don't normally see anything like this in Felixstowe and there were police absolutely everywhere.”

The incident was part of an operation led by Cheshire Police with help from Suffolk officers following an investigation into alleged offences in the Cheshire area over the weekend.

The trail led the investigation team to Suffolk and the two forces liaised closely before the arrests were made.

Three men aged 25, 37 and 45 were arrested in Felixstowe, and a 30-year-old woman arrested in Ipswich - all currently being questioned in custody in Ipswich - in connection with the inquiry, and another man, aged 37, was arrested in the Runcorn area of Cheshire.

A police spokesman said: “The investigation centred around the search for a 21 year old woman from the Runcorn area who had been reported missing. She has now been traced and is safe and well.”

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