Imitation gun shown off in restaurant sparks major alert with armed police

SPECIALIST firearms officers were drafted in after a major alert was sparked in a Yorkshire city when two smartly-dressed men were spotted with an imitation Magnum handgun in a restaurant.

North Yorkshire Police yesterday warned about the dangers of carrying imitation firearms and air weapons in public after the men were arrested at gunpoint in York.

A businessman called the police after spotting the gun on a table in front of the men while he was walking past the Red Chilli restaurant in George Hudson Street.

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Plain-clothed officers went to the scene at about 4pm on Monday and saw the two men leaving the restaurant before getting into a VW Polo driven by a third man.

Unmarked police cars followed them out of the city centre before an armed response unit arrived and they were arrested at gunpoint at Kirk Hammerton. It emerged they had bought the gun for about £150 from a York shop earlier.

An 18-year-old man was cautioned for possessing the weapon in a public place and a 17-year-old was given a youth reprimand for the same offence. The 31-year-old man who was driving the VW Polo was released without charge.