A GANG suspected of carrying out a string of armed robberies in the north London area were arrested in Harrow yesterday following a police operation.

Officers from the Finchley Flying Squad arrested three men around 9pm yesterday.

Police followed a car with the men to College Hill, in Harrow Weald, where two men were seen attempting to enter a locked Ladbrokes bookmakers.

The men drove to another Ladbrokes, in Kenton Lane, where two men got out of the car and pulled up their hoods.

One man held the door open while a second man went into the bookmakers, produced a firearm and demanded cash. Officers arrested the three men as they were getting back into the car.

Police recovered around £300 cash and an imitation firearm. The men, aged 21, 23 and 25, are in custody at a north London police station.

The men are believed to be linked to another 11 armed robberies on bookmakers and other businesses in north-west London and Hertfordshire this month.