A MAN and a woman were being questioned last night after they were detained by armed police in a major operation spanning two counties.Suffolk police had tracked a white car as it left the Sudbury area yesterday evening and headed for Colchester as part of an operation to catch a man wanted for robbery.

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POLICE investigations are continuing today after a man and a woman were detained by armed police in a major operation spanning two counties.

Suffolk Police had tracked a white car as it left the Sudbury area last night and headed for Colchester as part of an operation to catch a man wanted for robbery.

Three hours later part of Colchester town centre came to standstill as armed officers blocked off a road, swooped on the car and detained a man and a woman.

But it was later revealed the man wanted for robbery – and who was believed to have been armed with a shotgun – was still at large.

Shocked drinkers at the Hole in the Wall pub on Balkerne Hill could only watch on in amazement as police, armed with machine guns and pistols, surrounded a white Ford Granada at about 8pm.

As dusk had fallen on Colchester, they had seen armed police slowly got into tactical positions around the town centre as the Suffolk police helicopter circled overhead.

At just after 8pm, the officers suddenly sprung into action from their posts in North Station Road and the Middleborough roundabout.

The car contained a man and a woman. Officers forced the man out of the car at gunpoint and told him to kneel on the ground, with police dogs held in check around him.

Essex Police said they had been alerted by Suffolk police after the car had been spotted in Nayland with the wanted man inside.

They added two people had been seen to get out of the car and go into a building in the Riverside area of Colchester at about 6.30pm.

A man and woman later emerged from the building, got into the car and headed towards Balkerne Hill, where armed police blocked off the road and swooped on the vehicle.

But Essex Police said the wanted man was not in the car and the search for him was continuing last night.

A Suffolk police spokesman said last night: "We had a report at about 5.50pm of a sighting of a male whom we wanted to talk to in connection with alleged offences.

"He was seen in a car near the Sudbury area. The car was then followed and it made its way to Colchester. We had the helicopter following the car and liaised with Essex Police."

The man and the woman were at Colchester Police Station last night helping police with their inquiries in relation to the incident.