ARMED police and sniffer dogs descended on a Newport barber's shop on Saturday evening, holding the owner at gunpoint while they searched the building - while customers were still waiting to have their hair cut.
Police were called to Details Barbers in Malpas Road at 6pm on November 2, following reports of a weapon on the site, blocking the road while they carried out a search of the premises, while bemused customers looked on.
Owner Maz Aksoy and one of his employees were marched out at gunpoint and handcuffed while police searched the building - but it turned out to be a false alarm.
(Details Barbers was the scene of a police presence on the weekend after a false accusation of brandishing a weapon)
An eyewitness said: “Customers were in the middle of their haircuts and the owner and a female worker were made to stand aside, handcuffed as the police searched the whole shop.
"It took about two to three hours.”
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A Gwent Police spokesman said: “Local officers, with the consent of the occupier, searched the premises. No weapons were found and nothing else was seized during the search.”
Mr Aksoy said the incident had left him shaken.
"We didn't know why there were police outside and I went out to see what was going on and they handcuffed me," he said. "They told me that there was a report of someone waving a gun in the shop - and they had described me.
"I told the police they could search the premises, and there were cameras in the shop and in the Shell Garage that would show that there was no gun.
"The police sergeant was great though. They came around 6pm and left around 9.20pm. The sergeant said that I could go back in and finish the haircuts at 8.30pm. I ended up staying until 10.30pm to finish the appointments I had that evening as I didn't want to let anyone down."
He added he was concerned about why the report had been made in the first place.
"I've never had a gun pointed at me before and it was shocking," he said. "I still don't know how it happened to me. I have seen all kinds of rumours on Facebook and this is a big problem for my business.
"We've been here for four years now and a lot of people know us, I didn't think that anyone would take this seriously and now after seeing the statuses, people are going to have the wrong perception of me and the business."
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