Three arrested following reports youth seen with weapon in Chippenham

Three youths have been arrested following a report that a male had been seen with a weapon in Chippenham this morning.

At approximately 10.50am, we received a report that a group of three youths had been seen in the Monkton Hill area with one of the youths described as waving around what was believed to be a firearm.

Armed Response Officers attended the area and extensive searches were carried out – as part of these searches, trains in and out of Chippenham Railway Station were held and a train at Bath Spa was searched.

Shortly before 2pm today, following diligent work by PCSOs, three males matching the descriptions were located in the underground car park in Chippenham town centre. Response officers attended and an imitation firearm was located and seized.

The three males, who are aged between 14 and 15, were all arrested on suspicion of possession of an imitation firearm.

They are currently being transported to Melksham custody for further questioning and enquiries continue.

Sgt Jamie Ball said: “The arrest of these three individuals came about as a result of some excellent work by two of our PCSOs.

“Incidents of this nature have the ability to cause serious concern within a community – I’d like to reassure residents that we take reports of this nature extremely seriously and extensive searches and enquiries were carried out as soon as we received the initial report.”