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Dramatic Scenes As Police Descend on Flats Armed Officers Lay Siege to Two Houses of Suspects

Posted on: Saturday, 30 July 2005, 15:00 CDT

THE race to capture Britain's three most wanted men ended in high drama yesterday as armed police swooped on two houses in London.

In what could have been a scene from Lethal Weapon, the Hollywood blockbuster, elite plainclothes officers from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terrorist branch and firearms officers from its SO19 unit laid siege to a block of flats at Dalgarno Gardens, close to Wormwood Scrubs prison.

Police officers and plainclothed marksmen were stationed outside the building as a helicopter hovered overhead.

"There were people with guns everywhere, " said one resident. "It was crazy, " said another.

Josephine Knight, 55, who watched the hunt for the suspected suicide bombers unfold through binoculars from her flat directly opposite, said:

"They blew the door off with plastic explosives, then threw in canisters of tear gas. About half a dozen officers moved along the balcony and peppered shots into the kitchen window."

The police shouted: "Come out Mohammed. Take your underwear off, " to make sure a suspect was not carrying explosives.

Witness Brian Dempster said: "There was an explosion just after 12 noon. Police shouted at us to stay in the house then there was shooting going on.

"We heard quite a few bursts of it. It sounded like machineguns. The police came around with gas masks on and Alsatian dogs and told us to get out."

Another witness reported up to six explosions and said police had told him they were caused by stun grenades.

Another said one of the suspects was heard shouting: "I've got rights." The witness said:

"He was saying to them, 'how do I know when I come out, that you're not going to shoot me? I'm scared, how do I know that you're not going to shoot me?'" In a moment of black farce, two young children, Callum Dempster, five and his fouryear-old sister, Tehya, were seen on a lower balcony talking to an armed officer, stroking his dog as the officer tried to get into the flat next door.

After a stand-off, two shirtless men emerged from the flat onto a walkway as armed police shouted orders at them.

Both men held their hands above their heads. Both were also seen spitting and clearing their noses - possibly a result of gas police used to stun them.

Residents of the area, often referred to as "the forgotten part of North Kensington", gave graphic accounts of the moment armed police swooped.

Nicolas Holliman said he saw four officers with guns and rifles and a specialist officer in a gas mask focusing on a top floor flat in one of the blocks on the estate and asking for a man called Mohammed to come out.

"He was being asked to come out with his hands up, naked or in underclothes. They were giving directions for him to come out, telling him he would be safe if he puts his hands up, " he said.

Jane Southwell, a neighbour, said the police were "patient but fierce" in their handling of the suspects. "They kept saying, 'if you do what we say you will not be hurt', and telling them they were surrounded.

"I have never seen so many police in one place. There were seven officers at the front involved in the incident, as well as snipers on the roof watching the narrow walkways on the estate."

Paul Robinson, 27, who lives on the estate, said he had been left shaken by the experience.

"There were people with guns everywhere. There were people with special masks and people with machine guns. We were pretty scared."

Last night, Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's antiterrorist branch, said one of the arrested men was Muktar SaidIbrahim, 27, who allegedly tried to blow himself up on a No 26 bus in Hackney, east London, on July 21. The second man gave his name as Ramzi Mohammed: police are believed to suspect he was behind the attempted bombing near Oval Tube station.

A second raid took place about a mile away as dozens of officers, some wearing gas masks, swooped on the Tavistock Crescent area of Notting Hill, clearing a wide area and cordoning off streets. Snipers were stationed behind parked cars.

Witnesses saw one man handcuffed and held between two police officers as he was bundled into a van.

Janice Dyson, 46, a housewife, said: "There was an ambulance, police on one side of the road and on the other side there was a large van with loads of police in.

"When I left home about 30 minutes before there was no sign of anything happening and then when I came back there was all this and it was all sealed off. I have lived here for 22 years and have never seen anything like this before. It is unreal, like you are watching it happening elsewhere."

Source: Herald, The; Glasgow (UK)

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