POLICE officers were forced to rescue two men from the River Leven on Sunday night after they jumped into the water to escape from the cops.

The drama unfolded around 7.20pm in the Balloch area. Officers on uniform patrol near Sweeney's boatyard spotted a group of youths on the towpath of the riverbank and noticed that one of them seemed to be in possession of a baseball bat.

Two people broke from the group and ran away from the cops, they then jumped into the water but got into difficulty and the officers had to jump in and rescue them. One of the individuals was arrested and charged with being in possession of an offensive weapon. A report has been sent to the procurator fiscal.