Armed police raid barbers in busy suburb

THERE are more than a dozen barbershops vying with each other around Princess Street, Moss Side – but one became the centre of attention yesterday.

Fade’Away, a nondescript business facing out on to the main road of the busy suburb, was raided by police in the early hours of Friday morning.

It is understood that an armed response unit attended the address and forced entry at about 5.15am.

Officers appear to have cut away the metal shutter and have since boarded it up with wood.

There was a police presence outside the address until late into the morning when attention moved to nearby Dorset Avenue, where a further raid was taking place.

It is understood that the shop is run by three brothers and has not been open since Monday.

Police are continuing to hunt for information and associates relating to Salman Abedi – the suicide bomber who killed 22 people at the Manchester Arena on Monday.

Byron Gibbs, 79, runs a hardware shop next door to the barbers.

He claims to have seen Abedi regularly walking past his shop and into others nearby.

Mr Gibbs said: “I saw him pass. He was with two others. I’m not sure if they work near here.

“I don’t know them, I’m not able to say anything about them. We were shocked to see his face on television.

“We now realise something happened and we say ‘Oh my gosh, it’s just behind us here’.”

Other business owners said the men who are believed to run the shop are recognisable faces on the street but largely keep themselves to themselves.

A shopkeeper round the corner from the barbershop, who did not want to be named, described one of the men believed to work there as ‘a normal, cool guy’. He said he would come in from time to time to buy soft drinks and cigarettes.

Another man, who also did not want to be named, said he knew one of the men believed to work there but said he had never seen Abedi with him.

He described him as a ‘nice, quiet, normal guy’.

A 32-year-old pharmacist, who works directly next door to the barbers, said the brothers and clientele ‘never gave us any bother’.