A MAN has been charged after armed police swooped in Ramsbottom.

Police were called to a disturbance involving weapons in Dundee Lane shortly before 8.35am on Friday.

Following a search by teams of officers with sniffer dogs near the car park of the former Old Dun Horse pub and Specialist Operations Branch, three men were arrested. A fourth man was arrested a short time later.

Wayne Grimshaw, aged 33, of Dundee Lane, Ramsbottom, has been charged with possession of a shotgun with intent to cause fear of violence, affray and threatening a person with an offensive weapon.

He has been remanded in custody to appear at Manchester Crown Court on Friday, October 12.

A 35-year-old man, arrested on suspicion of being in possession of an offensive weapon, has been released under investigation.

As the drama unfolded on Friday morning, emergency services vehicles could be seen racing across Ramsbottom.

An eyewitness said she had seen officers "digging in the ground" behind the Dundee United Reformed Church.

Officers arrested two men and then towed a white van from an area close to the Red Hall Hotel, in Manchester Road.

A staff member from the hotel said: "I had just pulled into work on my bike and I saw around 10 armed police carrying rifles while the police helicopter was flying overhead.

"There was lots of shouting and police had hold of two men who they cuffed. Then they took one away in a car and the other in a van."

Another eyewitness from a nearby business added: "There was a white van that police seemed to be searching.

"They were here for quite a while but I didn't see them bring anything out from inside it."

Witnesses spotted other officers at the MC Motor garage on Kay Brow.

Anybody with information, or dash-cam footage, should contact police on 0161 856 8152 quoting incident number 449 of 14 September 2018, or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.