Armed police have foiled an audacious bid to hold up a Feltham warehouse by firing at the robbers as they drove off in a truck loaded with high-value computer equipment.

Six men armed with semi-automatic pistols entered the Securicor Omega International warehouse in Central Park Estate, Feltham, about 9am on January 31, according to a Hounslow Guardian report.

Ten members of staff were herded at gunpoint into an empty container before the gang used a forklift to load pallets of computer equipment into a stolen 10-tonne truck.

But officers from the Metropolitan Police's central task force, acting on intelligence, were waiting for the thieves outside as part of a planned intercept.

As the robbers drove off, police fired "Hatton" bullets, specifically designed for bursting tyres, at the vehicle's wheels, disabling it. Police then moved in and arrested the gang.

The staff were released unharmed.