ARMED police sealed off parts of two villages yesterday when they moved in to arrest three people in connection with a robbery.

Officers arrested a man and a woman in Crook, County Durham, then later apprehended a man in his 30s in Tow Law, following an armed siege.

The three were last night being held by Consett police for questioning over an armed robbery at Burnopfield, north of Stanley, last month.

Two supermarket workers were severely traumatised during the robbery at the Co-operative store in The Leazes, Burnopfield, on February 28.

Two men, brandishing what appeared to be handguns, forced the two women staff members to the rear of the premises.

There they manhandled and assaulted them, and forced them to open the safe before escaping with a substantial amount of cash.

Detectives investigating the robbery swooped on a house in Crook yesterday morning. An unnamed man in his 30s and a woman were taken away for questioning.

Armed officers then moved on to an address in Wolsingham Road, near the monument in Tow Law.

Police surrounded the property and sealed off an approach road in what was described as a precautionary operation until the man gave himself up quietly.

One neighbour, who declined to be named, said: "It came as a real shock. This is a very quiet street and nothing like this happens here.

"The first thing I knew about it was when I saw guns pointing at the window."

Another resident, who also did not wish to be named, said: "None of us knew what was going on.

"We were all asking each other what was happening. It's not every day you see men with guns on the street."

Detective Chief Inspector Ron Vine, of Consett CID, said the trio would be questioned into the evening.