THIS is the dramatic moment armed cops tasered a man “waving a samurai sword” in the street this afternoon.

Officers raced to the scene in Basildon, Essex, at about 2,35pm after receiving reports of a man threatening people with a massive blade.

Footage from the scene shows the man with a large knife in his hand, raising it above his head outside of a parade of shops in front of terrified kids.

Witnesses say officers tasered him after refusing to put his weapon down.

One shop worker was told by police to lock his customers in his shop for their safety.

Rupan Shan, a shop worker at Costcutter, described the dramatic 20 miunte stand-off.

He told EssexLive: "We saw a guy outside with a big sword and we called the police straight away.

"We were told to lock up the shop by police so for our customers safety we locked them inside too there were children here, there was a 10-year-old boy in the shop at the time but he seemed quite calm.

"The police shouted at him to drop the knife but he ignored them and then then tasered him and took him away."

A police cordon was put in place as officers carried out an investigation.

Another witness said she saw the police cordons as she described the scene as "scary".

A spokesman for Essex Police said: "We were called at 2.35pm on Saturday, November 10 to concerns for the welfare of a man in the Rectory Road area of Pitsea who was reported to have a sword and was making threats.

"Officers attended and a man was detained."