An operation by armed police today led to the arrest of two men.

The men, one armed with a knife, were arrested on North Shore Road near Black Watch Pass in Pembroke after they attempted to escape police on a stolen motorcycle.

Residents said they saw several police vehicles in the area around 10am.

One area resident, a 45-year-old woman who asked not to be named, said she was on her way back home from a walk when she ran into “a hive of police activity”.

She added: “Police asked me to walk as close to my wall as possible and they also asked for permission to come into the backyard and check in case someone had thrown something into the bushes.

“Then they asked me to go inside, so I did.”

The woman was speaking after police officers, some armed, carried out a sweep of the area as part of a “firearms investigation”.

Householders were asked to remain indoors while the operation, backed by plain clothes officers, continued.

The woman, who has lived in the area for several years with her husband and two daughters, said that she first caught sign of the police presence when saw a patrol car in the car park of a nearby supermarket.

She said that assumed the car part of a “speed trap” for traffic offenders.

But she added: “It was only when I came down the road and there was a plain clothes police officer asking to go in other people’s yard I thought ’oh, something is different’.”

The woman said she warned her husband, who was not at home, about the police operation and he returned as soon as possible.

She added that she was surprised by the drama because it was a “quiet area” and home to several families – some with young children.

The woman said: “This is the first sort of police action we’ve had in this neighbourhood.”

She added: “I run an Airbnb and I was thinking ’oh gosh, I hope the guests aren’t going to be upset with this happening literally right outside our door’.”

Another resident, who also asked not to be named, said that he saw the aftermath of the incident after he returned home from a doctor’s appointment.

He said: “I came home and I just saw a bunch of cops around.

“I didn’t see the arrest, I simply asked the neighbours because I came home and I saw a bunch of cops around my house.

“Then I saw someone sitting in the back of a police car.”

The man added that he later learnt one of the men had been arrested in the grounds of his apartment building.

He said that he was also told police had combed the area for one of the men, who attempted to escape on foot, and later detained him.

The man added: “I saw that there was a bike that was clearly left behind, so I’m assuming that someone was being chased and they got off the bike and ran back into this area – which is a dead end.”