FIREARMS officers swooped on two men as they drove past a village after the pair were spotted at a chinese restaurant with what appeared to be a silver Magnum handgun on their table.

A shocked pedestrian alerted North Yorkshire Police at 4.05pm on Monday after spotting two smartly dressed men with the weapon sitting in the window of Red Chilli restaurant, in George Hudson Street, York.

Plain clothes officers saw the men leave the restaurant and get in to a silver Volkswagen car, which was driven by a third man and followed in two unmarked police cars.

Officers followed the vehicle out of the city on the A59, as they waited for support from an armed response unit.

Seven miles later, as the Volkswagen car reached Kirk Hammerton, North Yorkshire, officers stopped it and arrested the three men were arrested at gunpoint.

Police recovered what turned out to be an imitation .44 Magnum handgun from the passenger footwell of the car along with six rounds of ammunition.

The men had bought the gun from a shop in York earlier that day.

They were taken into police custody for questioning and were later released. An 18-year-old man was cautioned for possessing an air weapon in a public place and a 17-year-old was given a youth reprimand for the same offence.

A 31-year-old man was released without further action.

Inspector Allan Wescott, of York police, said: “If a firearms officer feels there is any threat to themselves or a member of the public then decisive action must be taken to alleviate that threat. This means that if you are carrying a weapon, real or not, you are putting yourself in very real danger."