Hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of suspected stolen cigarettes have been recovered and four people arrested after the quick actions of West Midlands Police.

Officers were called to reports of an armed robbery at Hyperama on Richmond Street, West Bromwich, at around 8pm yesterday on Monday 9 April.

Two members of staff were threatened with a gun and baseball bat as they were tied up by a masked group who took cigarettes. The cigarettes were loaded into a lorry which officers quickly tracked down to Jesson Road, Walsall. 

They discovered a haul of tobacco inside an address there and a 50-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods. A 17-year-old boy and two men aged 18 and 42 were also arrested from a car in Jesson Road on suspicion of robbery. All four remain in custody. Sergeant Matt Nightingale, from Force CID at Sandwell, said:

"This was a substantial amount of suspected stolen goods which has been recovered due to the quick response of officers. This was a terrifying experience for staff who were thankfully not injured."