FOUR people from North-East are among six arrested by armed police after a member of the public reported seeing a man with a gun.

The alarm was raised in Carlisle, Cumbria, at 4.15am today by the member of the public who stopped police officers to report the sighting.

The man was followed from a nearby bar into the Ibis hotel, sparking a huge police operation with armed officers and dogs.

A spokesman for Cumbria Police said the area had been cordoned off and is being searched, and five men and a woman were arrested.

Four are from the Middlesbrough area, and two are from Carlisle. They are now in police custody.

The police spokesman thanked members of the public for their help in resolving the incident “quickly and securely.”