SPECIALIST police officers have swooped on a house in Southampton.

Officers from the Met Police and Hampshire Constabulary burst their way into the detached home in Oakley Road, Millbrook, around 10am this morning.

At least eight officers emerged from two police vans and three cars and used a battering ram to burst their way into the semi detached home.

Witnesses saw them dragging out a man and sniffer dogs entering the property.

Forensic officers then went in and officers are currently standing guard.

The two-storey house had at least two of its windows already boarded up.

A workman on a building site opposite, Colin O'Connell, said: “We heard them get out of their vans and ram down the door.

Daily Echo:

“Thirty minutes later they pulled a person out. They sent in sniffer dogs and later forensic teams.”

Officers initially pulled up in an unmarked van before around 15 of them used a battering ram to knock the door in.

Luke Yeates working on a neighbouring building site said: "They were hitting the door and shouting "stay sat down".

"It took them a couple of attempts to break in and then a load of other police in uniforms arrived."

The worker said police searched the house for nearly 30 mins before two men were led out by officers.

Another workman, Tom Holmes, said: "I first noticed when I saw 20 officers kicking down the door. There was a lot of shouting and dogs barking.

"It's strange because I've not seen anyone come out of the house before so didn't think anyone lived there."

Daily Echo:

Another person working at a local business said "We saw loads of police walking fast passing our windows then a lot of banging.

"That house has been boarded up for years."

Meanwhile, residents in around Burgess Road in the Swaythling area of the city reported seeing Met Police vehicles parked at the Shell garage in Burgess Road as early as 8.30am this morning, while another witness has reported seeing Met Police officers on the M3 near Winchester.

  • Additional reporting by Maxwell Kusi-Obodum