Three terror suspects held in raids

ARMED police smashed a fresh suspected terrorist plot on the eve of the General Election.

Three men were arrested in dramatic raids across East London just hours before the polls opened. Two men aged 34 and 37 were held in Newham, just a few miles from where the London Bridge atrocity was launched.

The third suspect, aged 33, was detained during an operation in nearby Walthamstow. It came amid fears the trio were preparing to launch an attack in the capital. But it is understood that they had not selected a target or formed ‘concrete plans’ and no significant weapons were found.

Scotland Yard said the arrests and a linked longrunning investigation are not connected to Saturday night’s attack. At one raid, on a housing estate in the shadow of the Olympic Park, neighbours heard explosions. A police spokesman said the trio were held on suspicion of the ‘commission, preparation or instigation’ of terrorism offences. They were being quizzed at high-security Southwark police station, central London.