Three arrested as they tried to enter Manhattan with massive arsenal of weapons and ammunition

A dramatic security alert was triggered briefly at the entrance to the Holland Tunnel leading into Manhattan early on Tuesday after police arrested three people trying to enter with a pick-up truck loaded with weapons, including loaded guns, rifles, knifes and ballistic vests.

The incident occurred at the height of the daily morning rush hour when thousands of vehicles are pouring into the Holland Tunnel from the New Jersey side as people make their way to offices in New York City. The truck was initially stopped because it had a cracked windscreen.

But after bringing it to the curb, police discovered that it was a virtual rolling arsenal of weapons. Also found inside was a camouflage armoured helmet and 2,000 rounds of ammunition. Those inside the car - two men in their fifties and a woman in her twenties - were placed under arrest.

While the fear of a terrorist attack is never far from the minds of many New Yorkers, nerves have been taught since the night club attack in Orlando ten days ago. However, the authorities said that there was no suggestion of any connection between the truck and any terror plot.

No counter-terrorism agents were involved in the investigation into the truck and its cargo because the case had no “terrorism nexus,” a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Kelly Langmesser, said. “There is no immediate threat”, she added.

Police will not speculate on where the weapons were bound, but there were reports they might have been headed to one side in a drugs dispute.

The arrest of the trio, believed to be residents of Pennsylvania, was smooth and there was no stand-off with police, officials noted. “This could have gone bad really quickly,” a policeman at the scene commented.

The scenes at the Holland Tunnel unfolded on the same day that authorities accused that three men in Rochester, New York, of illegally selling over 100 assault weapons from a single gun shop. One man was arrested and two others are being sought, officials said.

The Rochester case may be the most important since New York state passed newly tough gun laws in 2012 directly in response to the Newtown mass school shooting in Connecticut.

“New York has enacted some of the toughest, most sensible gun safety laws in the country, and with today’s arrests, we are sending a message that these laws will be vigorously enforced,” the attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, a Democrat, said.

“The tragedies in Orlando, Newtown, Aurora and communities across the country are clear signs that we need to get our national gun violence epidemic under control.

“New York’s assault weapons ban keeps New Yorkers safer, and makes the job of law enforcement easier. There is no place for weapons of war on the streets of America.”