ARMED police backed by a helicopter hovering overhead stopped two cars miles apart on a busy road yesterday to arrest a man suspected of conspiracy to murder.

Officers from the County Durham and Northumbria forces, several carrying rifles, arrested four men during the swoop on the A694 near Rowlands Gill, west of Gateshead.

A 25-year-old man suspected of being involved in an attempt to murder a Leeds man, was arrested along with two men in their thirties and a third in his fifties, suspected of assisting an offender.

Shocked motorists described how the cars were brought to a halt by officers in separate incidents at about 10.30am, just inside the Tyne and Wear border.

Officers later arrested a woman in her fifties in County Durham.

Police from West Yorkshire were heading to Consett, County Durham, last night to collect the 25-year-old and take him back for questioning about his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to murder Tony Nixon, in Leeds, in June 2000. Three other men have previously been charged with conspiracy to murder in connection with the incident.

Yesterday's arrests were carried out during two "hard-stops", during which police marksmen stopped a Ford Mondeo and a Ford Ka in separate incidents on the A694, one at Winlaton Mill and the other two miles away near Rowlands Gill.

One witness said: "I just saw a man with his hands up and the police with the rifle trained on him and telling him to keep still.

"I was surprised because you don't normally see things like that in Rowlands Gill."

A woman said: "There was a helicopter hovering overhead. There were armed police and chaps on the road with their hands on their heads. It was obviously pretty serious."

West Yorkshire Police confirmed last night that the man arrested was being questioned in connection with the shooting of Mr Nixon, in the Morley area of Leeds. Mr Nixon has made a full recovery from the shooting.