The Evening Express in Aberdeen has left Scotland's national newspapers trailing in its wake.

The paper ran an exclusive story revealing that three men had been arrested on firearms charges after a security threat to the Scottish Parliament.

Its team of reporters broke the news that the arrests came after a swoop on the Forth Road Bridge near Edinburgh on Saturday - the same day the Queen was opening the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.

The Evening Express revealed the move was linked to intensive police searches on Aberdeen Beach, which started on Monday.

Grampian Police had steadfastly refused to make any comment on their operations - but the Evening Express broke the real story in its Tuesday edition.

Then yesterday the scoop was the page one lead in the Scotsman, Daily Mail, Daily Record, and the Daily Mirror.

Assistant editor Richard Prest said: "This was a fantastic effort from our team. This exclusive was broken thanks to a sheer dogged determination to get the real story behind a police media blackout.

"Using our own sources we pieced together fragments of information to confirm the story. We also followed this up with another exclusive on the location of a further raid carried out by police as part of their investigations."

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