Drama as armed officers raid Southsea property and arrest two men, 31 and 52, over drug and weapon offences

Officers burst into the property in Goldsmith Avenue, at the junction with Ruskin Road, at around 1.30am on Thursday morning.

Residents have told of their shock after two men, 31 and 52, were arrested.

Hampshire police confirm they were held on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of cocaine, possession of a prohibited weapon and a licensing offence.

A Hampshire police spokeswoman said: ‘They have been released from custody but remain under investigation as our enquiries continue.’

A Goldsmith Avenue resident, who did not want to be named, told The News: ‘They went in with armed response officers at about 1.30am.

‘They had a group of them out laying on their fronts in the street.’

The police operation carried on throughout the day until with reports of a forensics team searching the property until 4pm.

The resident added: ‘There were seven or eight of them in blue forensic outfits going back and forth from a van and the house.

‘They were doing that all day.’

Residents reported Ruskin Road was blocked by two large police vans, one at the Goldsmith Avenue entrance and one at the Carisbrooke Road entrance.

Police were seen armed with semi-automatic machine guns and brought several sniffer dogs into the property.

A police car was seen in the car park of Tesco Express in Goldsmith Avenue, and two smaller police vans parked within the blocked-off road.

It’s reported the property has links to a biker group and is used by up to 150 riders in the summer as a club house.

Norse emblems are on the house.

The police spokeswoman added: ‘We carried out a pre-planned warrant at an address in Goldsmith Avenue, Portsmouth, in the early hours of Thursday morning.

‘We would like to thank those in the area for their patience while we dealt with this incident.’