4 HELD IN BOMB SQUAD ‘TERROR PLOT’ RAIDS Cops swoop in two counties

BOMB disposal experts were deployed after police swooped to foil a suspected Islamist terror plot.

Four men were arrested in early-morning raids in South Yorkshire and Derbyshire yesterday.

As part of the operation, the Army’s Bomb Disposal Unit was dispatched to an address in Chesterfield.

The area was cordoned off and locals evacuated as officers carried out searches.

Three men, aged 22, 36 and 41, were detained at different addresses in Sheffield, while a 31-year-old was held in Chesterfield.

All four were arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

The arrests came as police and MI5 tackle a terror threat seen as unprecedented.

In addition to five attacks that took place in London and Manchester, Home Secretary Amber Rudd revealed earlier this month that security agencies have foiled nine plots since March.

Counter-terror teams are running 500 live investigations involving 3,000 individuals at any one time, while there is also a wider pool of 20,000 subjects of previous probes.

The latest suspects are being questioned at a police station in West Yorkshire.

Police said the arrests were “intelligence-led and pre-planned” as part of an ongoing investigation, and five properties are being searched in connection with the probe.

A police statement said: “The Army’s Bomb Disposal Unit is currently attending the address in Chesterfield.

“We would ask people to remain alert but not alarmed.”

Police added that loud bangs heard were part of the method used to gain access. SEARCHED: One of the houses in Sheffield

People living near an address in the Meersbrook area of Sheffield said they were woken at 5.30am.

Retired Joan Miller, 63, who lives opposite the house, said: “It was a very loud bang. It shook the house. I pulled the curtains and saw lots of armed men in the street.”

Ms Miller and others in the street said they did not know who lived in the house, which is in a dilapidated state.

She said: “It’s been like that for some time and I’d say it was multiple occupancy and that the residents change frequently. That’s all I know.”