MANCHESTER TERROR ATTACK: MAN HELD AFTER HOME RAIDED

COUNTER-TERRORISM officers swooped on an address in Nuneaton thought to be connected to the Manchester suicide bomb attack investigation.

The property in Earls Road, home to a Libyanborn man who fled the Gaddafi regime, was being searched following an arrest in a nearby street on Wednesday night.

Eye witnesses said officers with tasers and guns took the arrested man away.

An eight-strong police specialist search team, equipped with a ladder, and other officers were seen entering a semidetached home yesterday.

Two marked police vans were parked in the street and there was continued activity at the house throughout the morning.

Officers had been carrying out high-visibility patrols in the area throughout the night.

Neighbours confirmed that dad-of-five named Naser Elshetwi lived at the address, who earlier this year spoke of how he had been shot in Libya in a violent kidnap attempt.

The man, who was in Libya to build a petrol station for a family member, previously told the Telegraph how he had been left disabled and struggling to walk, after being shot through both legs in January 2016.

Speaking in May this year, and pictured with a leg brace, he said: “My hope is that I will eventually be able to work again, to support my family, but I know that I am lucky to be alive.”

The identity of the arrested man is not known.

Libyan-born Mr Elshetwi came to the UK two decades ago, and

was later granted British citizenship under thenhome secretary David Blunkett.

He has five children aged between seven and 21.

In a statement issued on Wednesday night, Greater Manchester Police said: “This evening we have been carrying out searches at an address in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, and have arrested a man.

“These searches are connected to Monday’s attack on Manchester Arena, but this is a fastmoving investigation and we are keeping an open mind at this stage.” Witness Susan Wild said armed officers, with their faces covered, were seen outside the property at about 9.10pm on Wednesday. “I was just putting my rubbish out and they swarmed the area,” the 40-year-old said. “They were shouting ‘armed police’ and there was about 12 of them. “The police have been there all night and they’ve taken plastic boxes in there.

“I would say the family have lived there at least 11 years, which is as long as I have lived here.”

Another neighbour said: “I speak as I find - they are just a normal family.

“I do know them and all I could say about them is good things.”

The man was arrested by West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit and Warwickshire Police and is believed to have been transferred to a police station in the Greater Manchester area.

These searches are connected to Monday’s attack on Manchester Arena, but this is a fast moving investigation... Greater Manchester Police