Arrests at Tower of Terror
Twelve arrests as armed cops launch early morning raid on block of flats
TERRIFIED witnesses told how they ducked for cover as armed police carried out dawn raids after hell was unleashed on London Bridge.
Twelve people were arrested in Barking, east London, in a series of raids which began yesterday morning.
Up to 40 officers wearing balaclavas and clutching machine guns descended on a quiet housing estate just after 7am.
Officers screamed “get back, get back” at residents peering from windows before the area was locked down.
At least four men were seen being ordered to lie face down in the street before being arrested moments after armed units swooped on the Elizabeth Fry tower block.
Four burkha-clad women with their faces covered were later led in handcuffs from the building.
Many residents in the block were adamant that one of the dead London Bridge attackers was living in a flat in the complex.
Several residents believed the dead attacker who wore an Arsenal shirt was their neighbour, but did not know his full real name.
Shocked Shafiq Mara, 38, said: “The police ran together, military-style into the estate.
“They had their guns pointing in the air and they were looking around. Some others must have come to the windows to see what was going on because they were screaming for us to get down.
“A couple of minutes later I heard an explosion and suddenly four men were dragged out and put on the floor with the police pointing the guns at them. It was very scary.”
As the drama unfolded, a simultaneous raid was executed at a flat half a mile away where a young mum living with her baby pleaded to police not to shoot her.
She was arrested and last night named by locals as Charisse O’Leary.
Specialist officers used explosive charges to blast down the door of her flat just after 7.30am. Eyewitnesses say her one-year-old daughter was inside at the time, and the girl is now believed to be with relatives.
An ex-partner of Charisse is believed to have visited them just hours before the Saturday’s carnage.
Pals say Charisse, formerly of Manchester, married a Muslim five years ago but didn’t convert to Islam.
The couple’s daughter was born after they moved to live in Dagenham, north London.
But Charisse and her partner split about nine months ago.
Later in the day, two dozen armed police stormed an address in nearby East Ham. Two men were arrested after one wearing Islamic robes tried to escape by jumping from a first-floor window.
Police arrested another individual nearby after the attack where three men drove a hire van into crowds of people before getting out and stabbing defenceless bystanders with 12-inch knives.
The carnage left seven dead and 48 wounded, including 21 people in a critical condition.
Reports there’s a potential link between the three attackers and a group of known alleged jihadists in the east London area are being investigated.
Police yesterday said they knew the identity of the attackers but
refused to confirm whether they were previously known to authorties.
A security source said: “Police and the intelligence agencies are working round the clock to identify whether the three men responsible for the gruesome attack in London Bridge acted alone or could be part of a bigger conspiracy.”
At a separate address, a relative of one of the suspects said he was a radical Muslim who dreamt of fighting in Syria.
The cousin alleged the man, believed to be in his 30s, even planned on leaving his pregnant wife behind as she recovered from a brain hemorrhage.
The relative added: “He was quite radical. He thought that he should go to Syria and join Isis, or whatever.
“But I wouldn’t be surprised if he was involved in the attack.”
He revealed the man’s family came from Pakistan 20 to 30 years ago but that he was possibly born in the UK.
Meanwhile, another resident at the Elizabeth Fry flats believed one of his neighbours was involved in the horror and had just hours before asked where he could hire a large van.
The neighbour said: “He approached me on Saturday and asked where I hired a van recently. He said he needed one as he was going to move house.
“He was acting strange. He was being nicer than normal. I knew he lectured people on the Koran.”
Another local said he believed one of the men who died carrying out the attack lived at the raided address.
Joseph Agboola, 30, said he knew him but that the man didn’t mix with the local community.
He said: “It’s sickening to think he can be involved in something like that.
Salaudeen Jailabdeen, 40, who lives in a neighbouring block of flats, said he immediately thought of his neighbour when he first saw a photo appearing to show one of the attackers on the ground. He added: “He is the one. I don’t believe he has done that... he’s very friendly.”
He recalled an incident in a mosque a couple of months ago where the man disrupted an imam who was preaching.
He said the incident took place at the nearby Jabir mosque: “He interrupted the Imam, he asked a question, he disagreed with that.
“People said to him, ‘Don’t interrupt this time, after the preach ask questions’.”
Scotland Yard confirmed 12 people had been detained in Barking “in connection with Saturday’s incidents”.
Searches were last night continuing in the area.