A HARMLESS prank between friends led to a massive police operation involving the force helicopter and armed officers.

The joke, which saw Norman McKenzie using his fingers as a pretend gun to hold up to Roger Haslope's head, also left the pair sitting in police cells for 12 hours.

The false alarm was sparked when 34-year-old Mr McKenzie saw Mr Haslope driving in his Peugeot 306 in Commercial Road near the tented market at 1pm on Monday.

Having been beckoned over by his friend, Mr McKenzie jumped in the passenger side of the car, made his fingers look like a gun, put them up against Mr Haslope's head and said: "This is a car-jacking."

The pair then drove around the centre of Swindon unaware that a member of the public had spotted the incident and reported it as a real car-jacking with a real gun to the police.

When the friends returned to the spot after a drive around the centre, they saw there were police officers everywhere and stopped to see what was going on.

It was then that they were arrested for firearm offences.

Mr Haslope, 27, of no fixed address, said: "We couldn't believe it. We were just having a laugh and hadn't done anything wrong.

"I don't even know why they arrested me anyway as, if it had been true, I would have been the victim. To arrest me would have been ridiculous.

"We were kept in the cells until 11pm until finally we were interviewed after they had searched my car and Norman's house and found nothing.

"It was only after that, when it was nearly 1am, that they decided to release us. I had been bouncing off the walls being in the cells for that long and no one could really tell us what we were there for.

"At the moment I'm unemployed and there were several jobs I was chasing but it made the day a complete waste of time."

Mr McKenzie, of West Swindon, said that spending the night in the cells for such a harmless act was the worst night of his life.

"I can't believe the police put me in the back of their van when I hadn't even done anything wrong," he said.

"The police said I was being arrested for firearms offences so I threw my coat off and let them search me because I knew I hadn't done anything wrong.

"I was obviously annoyed because I knew it was all a mistake. I was just getting a ride with my mate.

"As soon as I swore, the police said they were doing me for a section five public disorder offence and handcuffed me."

He added: "This whole thing was so stressful and traumatic for me.

"There were police with firearms. What would have happened if they had shot me before thinking, like that guy in London on the tube?

"How much money and time has been totally wasted down the drain on this?

"Now I have to pay £80 because I swore when I was arrested for something I didn't even do. It's crazy."

Superintendent Richard Rowland, of Swindon police, said: "Following police inquiries the initial report of a firearm could not be substantiated.

"During interview both men admitted that they had been fooling around and were released from police custody, having been suitably advised regarding their behaviour.

"One of the men was given a fixed penalty notice for a public order offence."