Hitchin care service manager Sukhi Rayat with his mother Krishna Rayatand and his children Manmeet Kaur and Harkeert Rayat (Picture: JP Asher)

A dozen armed police with dogs held a shocked Sikh dad and his son at gunpoint in handcuffs after a misunderstanding.

Sukhi Rayat said the reason given for their treatment was someone complaining about hearing a gunshot – which was actually his car’s tyre blowing.

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The drama happened after Mr Rayat, 47, parked his BMW X1 in his yard in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.

Shortly after a dozen gun cops with dogs ran into his garden, then pushed him against a wall and put him in handcuffs.


Mr Rayat said: ‘I’d been sitting in my car for a minute because I was calling the company I lease it from. As soon as I stepped out, police came out of nowhere with the dogs and rifles and everything.

The flat tyre on Sukhi Rayat’s orange BMW X1 that led to the misunderstanding (Picture: JP Asher)

‘It was like something you’d see on TV.’



Mr Rayat said that his 17-year-old son Harkeert was also rammed up against a wall and handcuffed.

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Harkeert told The Hitchen Comet: ‘I unlocked the door and the officer pointed his gun at me and told me to put my hands up.

‘Then he grabbed me and threw me against the wall. They had me out there on the main road, being searched in handcuffs.’

Wednesday’s raid happened after someone called police to report a gunshot coming from Mr Rayat’s orange car, however, the complainant’s allegations changed three times.

Hertfordshire Police have apologised for the incident (Picture: PA)

Mr Rayat, who has lived in his home since 1979, added: ‘People are on edge at the moment. I get that and I totally get what the police have done. But this just shows people have a real lack of understanding about who’s who.’

Mr Rayat’s daughter Manmeet Kaur, 20, slammed police officers who ignored their request to take off their shoes before entering a special upstairs room filled with Sikh religious items and texts.

She said: ‘It was scary, but now I feel more anger than anything else.’

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A Hertfordshire Police spokeswoman said: ‘Officers have a duty to act on information received and any reports involving firearms are taken very seriously.

‘Police responded to a call at 12.09pm from a member of the public who stated they had seen two men inside a car in Bunyan Road holding what they believed to be a firearm.

‘Armed officers detained a man and entered a property before carrying out a search to ensure there were no people inside the address with a firearm.’

She added: ‘We apologise for any offence caused by the search. However, our main priority is to protect both the safety of the public and the safety of our officers, and detain any person or persons who are illegally in possession of a firearm.’

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