MURDER police on Tyneside have revealed they have been dealing with a hostage situation in the hunt for Raoul Moat.
In a statement read out at a news conference at Northumbria Police Headquarters in Newcastle, Detective Chief Superintendent Neil Adamson said that arrests have been made and a car recovered.
He also said that the village of Rothbury in Northumberland has been sealed off by officers, with a two-mile exclusion zone on the ground and a 5,000ft no-fly zone overhead.
Details are still unclear about the involvement of hostages, but police say they have arrested two men in connection with it, and another operation - one of eight - resulted at another arrest in the Wrekenton area of Gateshead.
Police have confirmed that Moat has not been found and have described him as very dangerous.
• More to follow.
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