Police descended on Eden Shopping Centre this afternoon after terrified shop staff called 999 reporting a man with a gun. 

Dozens of police officers swooped on the scene and arrested a man on suspicion of being in possession of an imitation firearm. 

A spokesman said: "He remains in custody at this time and an investigation is ongoing. He has been arrested after we received a call this afternoon from one of the businesses at the Eden Centre retail complex that a member of the public had a gun about their person.

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"Officers attended and arrested the man. No one was injured and no threats were made.

"At this stage we believe that the gun is not viable and most likely a toy so there was no wider threat to the public.

"We would like to thank the public and those involved following this incident for their co-operation."

Eden's security manager Jason told the Bucks Free Press he had "never seen so many police". 

He said: "There were about 40 or 50 police officers here, it was crazy. Police closed all the entrances and exits to the shopping centre. Someone had a gun - I don't know if it was real or a dummy, but police arrested a man and took him away." 

An official Eden Centre spokesman said: "We can confirm that police were investigating an incident earlier today at Eden Shopping Centre. Part of the centre was closed in response to this incident. The centre has now fully reopened and we would like to thank our shoppers for their cooperation in this matter."

Did you see what happened? Call 01494 755 096.