THREE men were arrested following an incident which closed Bridge Street in Stratford on Tuesday morning (August 29).
Officers were called to Bridge Street shortly before 1am following a report there were people attempting to steal lead and copper piping from the roof of a shop.
On arrival, a number of men were seen to be on the roof of the long-abandoned BHS building.
Around 3.30am, a 31-year-old man from Tipton was arrested on suspicion of burglary – non-dwelling.
He was later searched in custody where a quantity of what is believed to be drugs were seized.
He was further arrested on suspicion of possessing of class A and possession of class B/C drugs.
Throughout the night, officers continued to engage with those on the roof and shortly after 9am, two further men – one aged 34 from Birmingham and another aged 45 from Dudley – were arrested on suspicion of burglary – non-dwelling.
Bridge Street was closed for a several hours to allow officers to deal with the incident.
A worker at a nearby cafe told the Observer that the men had been sleeping rough in the empty BHS building’s roof for some time.
Police refused to comment on this.
Enquiries are currently ongoing and anyone who has information should contact Warwickshire Police quoting incident 10 of 29 August.
