Armed police flood Sheffield suburb for raids, but police say no arrests made

Alarmed residents reported seeing at least 50 officers in Pitsmoor yesterday morning, and told how police had trained their guns on the occupants of two properties as they were led into a waiting riot van.

One man said police had asked residents on Pexton Road and Sturton Road - where it is understood the raids took place - to stay in their homes for their own safety, telling him '˜we're not playing games'.

South Yorkshire Police today issued a statement, saying: 'Armed response vehicles were deployed to pre-planned warrants at two addresses in the Pitsmoor area of Sheffield on Sunday at 6.51am in connection to an ongoing investigation. No arrests were made.'

One resident, who asked not to be named, said: 'The whole place was surrounded by armed police. There were undercover officers and police even blocked off the main road linking to these streets. No one was allowed to go out for hours or even look.

'Officers smashed the gates and there was a police helicopter.

'I saw three people with their hands above their head being walked out of the houses and put in riot vans, while police had their machine guns pointed at them.

'Then there were undercover police searching cars, gardens, inside the houses, the lot.'

Another man, who also wished to remain anonymous, said: 'There were over 50 officers and once the armed officers left there must have been over 30 CID officers who remained.

'We've never had anything like this around here before.'