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Armed police in robbery stand-off Armed stand-off property 'empty'
(about 3 hours later)
Armed police have surrounded a house in County Durham where a man who attempted to rob a nearby post office is thought to be hiding. A house which was surrounded by armed police following a post office robbery was found to be empty.
The man and an accomplice burst into Moorside Post Office, near Consett, this afternoon wearing masks. Officers cordoned off the property, in Moorside near Consett, County Durham after reports that two men involved in the raid were hiding inside.
They then fled to a house on Thornfield Road where one man was arrested in the garden, while the second man entered the property. A 20-year-old man was arrested in the garden, on Thornfield Road, but after a search of the house nothing was found.
It is not known if any weapons were used in the robbery, police said. Two masked raiders, one thought to have been wielding a pistol, had earlier burst into the village post office.
It remains unclear whether any cash was taken.
Two further people, a man and woman, are being interviewed by police in connection with the incident, but neither has been arrested.