Hong Kong police arrested five men who were attempting to rob a jewellery shop, with dramatic footage showing the masked assailants wielding machetes and sledgehammers in the store.

The attempted daytime robbery took place in the bustling Tsim Sha Tsui shopping district on Tuesday, when the five men were shown on CCTV footage alighting from a white car.

They rushed into a watch and jewellery shop and started smashing display windows, as employees appeared to stand by.

Less than 20 seconds later according to the footage, plain clothes police officers rushed in with guns drawn, stunning the group who discarded their weapons and dropped to the floor.

Police superintendent Gar Kam-lam said criminal investigators had been collecting intelligence, and knew that luxury goods stores around Tsim Sha Tsui were a frequent target for robberies.

"Officers saw the men enter the store with machetes and hammers, so officers went into the store and successfully subdued them," he said during a press briefing.

The five arrested were aged between 23 and 36 years old, with only one of them holding a Hong Kong ID card.

Two others held recognisance forms, which which allow them to stay in the city but bar them from working, while the remaining two are suspected to be illegal entrants, said Gar.

Agence France-Presse