Police hunt firearms in farm raid

Police descended on a farm near Dudley today in an early-morning raid.

Officers from West Midlands Police and Staffordshire Police carried out a joint operation at Hinksford Farm near Kingswinford.

They arrived at the farm, in Hinksford Lane, between Kingswinford and Swindon at around 6am.

Officers carried video cameras and left with holdall bags.

It is not known what they were looking for, but the raids are believed to be connected to firearms that may have been hidden in the area.

Farm shop owner Simon Tolley, aged 42, said he had gone to market at 4am and when he returned at 7am the police were already searching the farmland.

"They have been combing through the hedgerows, the fields and even the ponds down the hill," he said.

"They've asked us questions about firearms and whether we know anything about where they might be being kept. I don't know anything about anything like that."

Mr Tolley, of Catesby Drive, Kingswinford, has been renting the shop from the farm owner since January. He said he believed the police had called the owner, who is currently on holiday, to inform him they were carrying out the search.

Mr Tolley said: "The police vans sitting outside are putting our customers off and their equipment is using so much energy it's cutting our electricity off. I hope they find whatever it is soon."

Officers were this afternoon still combing the property carrying evidence bags from the house into vans. They carried out the search using long sticks.

Neither West Midlands Police nor Staffordshire Police were able to comment.