ARMED police have arrested four men in a swoop at a hotel in Ramsgate.

The raid on the Oak Hotel, on Harbour Parade, was a joint operation between Kent and Sussex police in connection with an armed robbery at a jeweller’s in Chichester.

The men they were hunting were guests at the hotel and armed police swooped at about 10.30am on Sunday.

Hotel manager Johanna Horton was warned of the operation on Saturday. She said: We found out about it the night before when the police asked us to confirm whether those guests were at the hotel. They asked for floor plans of the building, which is when I knew it was serious.”

Staff had to act normally despite knowing what was likely to happen the following day and Ms Horton had no idea what time the operation would begin.

She added: “The police stormed the building but none of the men were in the hotel at the time.

“They caught one suspect up the road when they shot his tyres out and the others were arrested when they came back. Why they came back when there were 40 police officers in the building I don’t know.

“It didn’t put our customers off and people weren’t too concerned. They were more interested than anything else. Altogether the police were here about five hours.”

The four men are in custody but police are still hunting other suspects from the raid. The operation is continuing.