Police in Sterte Road after man arrested for firearms offence

Officers from Dorset Police have been present in Sterte Road in Poole since the early hours of Thursday morning.

It comes after police said they received a report of a man with what was believed to be a firearm outside the Spar store in Turlin Road in Poole at 7.28pm on Wednesday, January 4.

Officers attended the scene and arrested a man in his 20s.

A police spokesperson said: “A man in his 20s from Poole has been arrested on suspicion of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.”

Armed police were then seen by residents in the early hours of the morning on Sterte Road in Poole, on Thursday January 5.

The force spokesperson said officers were “conducting searches at an address in Sterte Road, Poole in relation to the investigation.”

Officers were seen by residents outside the shops on Sterte road, and in the alleyway behind the building.

One resident said they believed forensics may have been entering the property, and he and his wife had spotted the police presence at 1.15am this morning.

Another resident saw uniformed officers with firearms in the road, when he went out to walk his dog between 8am and 9am on Thursday.

“From what I saw when I went to take the dog out, there were two officers with assault rifles going up the stairwell up to above the Chinese takeaway.

“That was it for armed police that I saw, but on the way out they said there was more round the front that were going to enter.”

The resident had been disturbed overnight when the police had first arrived.

“I got up at two in the morning because there was a lot of noise, and they were still outside moving up and down that area, then in the morning they were still there.”

He saw at least five police vehicles in the road, three of which were unmarked cars.

There were still four police vehicles on the scene at 3pm on Thursday afternoon.