THE DAY I NICKED FERRIS..

Officers swooped on car filled with machine guns ammo

- RORY CASSIDY

THE dramatic moment Paul Ferris was dragged through a car window by cops during his arrest for smuggling machine guns to Scotland has been relived by the officer who led the operation.

Former Scotland Yard senior investigating officer Michael Hallowes has spoken out for the first time to tell how Ferris was captured as part of a probe involving MI5, Strathclyde Police, and the South-East Regional Crime Squad (SERCS).

In Operation Abonar, Hallowes' new book on the undercover investigation, the former cop tells how Ferris had hree MAC-10 submachine guns, zi magazines, silencers and dozens blue-tipped and copper-jacketed m ammunition in an Opal Fruits - Hallowes said underworld figure 5, 59, planned to use the deadly -ons to "settle a gangland feud asgow".

ling how Ferris was arrested in a atic scene on the streets of central on in 1997, Hallowes said: "Ferris and his associate Henry Suttie were travelling along Upper Berkeley Street in Marylebone when they were suddenly overtaken by two nondescript police cars. Before they could fully comprehend what was happening, Ferris braked hard to avoid a collision with the first, which had now cut in front.

"The second boxed them in on the off-side, while parked cars prevented any escape along the other.

"Six casually dressed men jumped from the two vehicles wearing black baseball caps with chequered bands embroidered with the word 'Police'.

"Two grabbed Ferris through the open window and forcibly pulled him out. He had no chance to resist.

"Suttie's removal was only slightly more dignified as the detectives opened his door first before wrenching him out." The book claims Strathclyde Detective Superintendent Don McGregor said the guns Ferris was ferrying to Scotland were "to settle a gangland feud in Glasgow".