POLICE mounted a huge firearms operation and arrested three suspects, leaving a Bradford road closed for around three hours.

An innocent bystander was also detained and held in handcuffs for around an hour before being released by officers, who also carried out a thorough search of the area.

Hollingwood Lane, in Lidget Green, was closed for around three hours on Thursday evening while police worked at the scene and it appeared occupants of a house refused to leave for some time, before a stand-off with police came to an end and several men were arrested.

West Yorkshire Police have declined to give any details of the operation, other than to say there was no risk to the public, but the T&A understands that community leaders in the area have been told the operation was part of an investigation into Class A drugs, which resulted in three arrests.

The innocent bystander said officers with guns still had their weapons trained on the house after he was 'de-arrested' with the occupants apparently unwilling to leave the building.

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He had spoken to one of the men, who had apparently returned home from work, moments before officers arrived in a convoy of around 12 vehicles and swooped on the area.

Armed officers arrested the neighbour, who said:"I have never seen so many police, there must have been 12 with guns and 40 altogether.

"They wouldn't tell me anything but kept me here. They told me I was under arrest and then de-arrested me about an hour later. They searched everywhere in the street, almost."

He said he had known two of those arrested "for years" as good neighbours.

"One of them had just finished work, came and spoke to me then went into the garden. That is when they swooped," said the bystander.

"I have filmed it on CCTV but the police have told me not to tamper with it or do anything with it.

"An hour after I was arrested the lads must have still been in the house because the police had their guns up to the house, saying 'come out now'.

"They haven't apologised for arresting me. I think they just put everyone down so they could find out what was going on.

"I think I was arrested because I had been speaking to one of them. I was cuffed for an hour and the cuffs really hurt."

A large crowd from a nearby housing estate had gathered around the police cordon by the time the incident ended.

Another neighbour, who lives a few doors away from the targeted house, said the first he knew of the drama was when he heard banging "like some one throwing a table about in the back garden."

The man, who asked not to be named, said: "Then we saw the flashing lights and realised something was going off. We looked out and could see armed police in the back garden, pointing guns at the back door. There was a stand-off .

"The armed officers kept moving backwards and forwards. It went on for some time. They were shouting something at the man."

He said people passing the scene were pulling up in the street in their cars to see what was happening and police were telling them to move on.