By Jonathan BarnesTHREE men were being questioned last night after firearms and ammunition were seized from a car on the M11.Twelve armed officers from the National Crime Squad stopped a car at a busy junction on the motorway in rush-hour traffic yesterday and recovered nine Glock pistols from its boot, with 200 rounds of ammunition.

By Jonathan Barnes

THREE men were being questioned last night after firearms and ammunition were seized from a car on the M11.

Twelve armed officers from the National Crime Squad stopped a car at a busy junction on the motorway in rush-hour traffic yesterday and recovered nine Glock pistols from its boot, with 200 rounds of ammunition.

Last night, three men from Essex and Suffolk, all aged between 35 and 40, were being held for questioning.

The National Crime Squad said a lorry had travelled from the Hook of Holland to Harwich, and then headed for Red Lodge on the A11, where it met a Mercedes car.

It is alleged the Glock pistols were contained in cargoes of frozen chicken and were then taken out of the lorry and transferred to the boot of the car.

Officers brought the M11 to a halt at about 8.30am yesterday as they stopped a silver Mercedes E240 at junction seven, near Harlow.

They found nine 9mm semi-automatic Glock pistols with ammunition and arrested the driver of the car, who is from Epping.

A lorry driver from Bury St Edmunds was arrested later in connection with the investigation as he made a delivery in Wisbech, while a third man was detained at his home in Newmarket.

Experts were examining the car last night and looking at the firearms, while officers will continue to question the men today.

Motorists suffered severe delays near junction seven of the motorway because of the operation, which brought the M11 to a standstill during the morning rush-hour.

A spokesman for AA Roadwatch said the A414 from Harlow to the M11 had also been badly affected by long tailbacks.

jonathan.barnes@eadt.co.uk