Guns and ammunition have been found hidden in a Bradford supermarket.

Police swooped on the store, in Rochester Street, Barkerend, and discovered the cache of weapons tucked away from public view.

The owners and management of the Watan Superstore are fully co-operating with police inquiries and are not being treated as suspects in the matter, said police.

Detective Inspector Gerry O’Shea, of Bradford South CID, said police attended the supermarket in order to search the premises.

Det Insp O’Shea said: “With the full co-operation of the owners and management of the supermarket, various items were recovered which do not appear to be connected to the business.”

He confirmed a shotgun, a handgun and ammunition were recovered in the search.

Det Insp O’Shea added: “Inquiries indicate that these items had been hidden, in a normally-unused part of the premises, for some time.

“The owners and management are fully co-operating with police and inquiries are ongoing.”

He stressed: “They are not being treated as suspects at this time.”

One woman customer, who was shopping at the time of the police raid yesterday, said about 20 officers were involved, some with camcorders on their shoulders.

She said: “The police walked in. There were about 15 or 20 customers in and the police asked them to stop their shopping and make their way out.

“They were asking for the keys to the shutters and they put the shutters down and were walking through the aisles.

“Later on, I passed the store and saw a marked police car and a van and there was an underwater search unit. Police were guarding the back.”

The woman said she was a regular customer and she described the people who ran the store as being “nice”.

“They have been there for a couple of years and also have stores in Oldham and Rochdale,” she said.

“They are always smiling and are very helpful.”