Armed police sealed off a Shropshire street today, ordered residents to stay in their homes and used a battering ram to smash down the front door of a house.

Officers wearing flak jackets and protective helmets, accompanied by police dog handlers, raided Haybridge Avenue, Hadley, Telford. They pointed rifles at a terraced house before forcing their way in.

They then searched the building after consulting the Immigration Service.

But the house was empty and no arrests were made.

Neighbours said they had no idea what was happening when at least 20 police in squad cars and vans, some of the officers carrying riot shields, arrived in their street at 7.45am.

One mother, who asked not to be named, said: “It was all very quick and professional. Policemen were stationed outside all our houses and we were not allowed to go outside.

“I saw three officers armed with rifles which they pointed at the house.

“A neighbouring family with a baby were escorted from their home by officers.

“Police were shouting, their dogs were barking and the next thing I heard was the sound of the front door being smashed down with a battering ram. It took four or five attempts.”

The woman said Haybridge Avenue had been the scene of at least two previous raids to find illegal immigra- nts and several drugs raids.

“Most of the people here are really nice but there is a bad element which makes life unpleasant for everyone else,” she said.

“People have their car tyres slashed and windows smashed. At night you see the cars of drug dealers stop in the middle of the road. They pass stuff out of their windows to lads on bikes.”

Neighbours said two men and a women with dark black skin, possibly Nigerians, had been seen at the house.

Police spokeswoman Sarah Warren said police carried out a search in response to information.

“Following a routine risk assessment, carried out in accordance with national guidelines, a small number of armed officers supported divisional police in the search.

“At the time of the search the house was found unoccupied. Colleagues from the Immigration Service had been consulted.”

By Peter Johnson