EARLY SHOCK FOR NEIGHBOURS IN QUIET STREET

Harcourt Drive in Canterbury runs parallel to the Whitstable Road and connects Clifton Gardens with Westgate Court Avenue.

To say it is the epitome of suburban England is an understatement. It is the sort of road film-makers would use to create a stereotypical image of comfortable suburbia – certainly not the sort of place the authorities regularly visit.

But yesterday morning, police vehicles filled the road and a queue of uniformed and plainclothes officers piled into Avion Elezi’s terrace home.

On its driveway sat a grey Volkswagen people carrier and a white Range Rover Sport which bears Mr Elezi’s Police searched Avion Elezi’s home in Harcourt Drive

personalised number plate.

With so much activity in this quiet road at just gone 6am, it was bound to attract some attention from neighbours.

A lady came out of her house and inquired of

police: “Can I help you with anything?” Later, the local neighbourhood watch co-ordinator emerged in an attempt to find out what was going on.

Due to the complex nature of the investigation and the fact that seven different locations were simultaneously targeted by police, the raids were put under a strict reporting embargo until 11am.

At the Broad Oak Road car wash, the usual line of vehicles getting a pre-work clean was not there.

Instead, a single police van occupied the forecourt while the rooms of the business itself were packed with police – a sight replicated at all of Mr Elezi’s premises.

This was a wide-ranging, carefully planned operation by multiple agencies.

As to what they uncover and where exactly it leads, we will just have to wait and see.