London, Jul 5: Five men and a woman were arrested in a series of dramatic early morning terror raids across London today just three weeks before the Olympics, reports the Daily Mail.
Armed British police carried out an early-morning raid on a residential address near London's Olympic Park on Thursday, using smoke grenades and a stun gun in what they called a pre-planned anti-terror operation.
Counter-terrorism police battered down the door of a house in Stratford, just one mile from where the Games are being held, and arrested two men who are believed to be brothers aged 24 and 26.
The 24-year-old suspect was Tasered during the raids but he did not require hospital treatment.
An 18-year-old was also arrested in Newham, east London, just three miles from the stadium, and three people - a 30-year-old woman and two men aged 29 and 21- were arrested in west London.
Police insisted the arrests are not linked to the Olympics but come as security is heightened across the capital.
Neighbours at the raid scene in Stratford said up to 60 police descended silently on the property at 4am before 'blowing down' the door and bursting in.
It is believed the two young men, who are British Muslims, live at the house with their sister and mother.
One man who lives on the seventh floor of the flats opposite said: 'I looked out of the window about 4am and all the street lights had been turned off. There was no traffic so I think the road had all been blocked off. There were no sirens.
'However around 4.10am that's when I heard the loud bang. I literally saw it from the windows. They used something to blow the door in, it was some kind of explosion. There were four bangs.
'They put some black bags down, I thought they had guns in and they blocked off the exits.
'Then I got up at 7am and saw a big lorry came and took the car away, it was a silver Renault.'
Ruje Rahman, 32, a social services worker, said her daughter was terrified when she awoke to loud bangs and police shining bright lights at the house.
She said: 'My daughter started to see the flashes of light.
' don't know what they did to bang the door but there was smoke coming out of the building.
'It was like boom, boom, boom, boom. The next door car alarm started to make noises as that was set off.
'We could see that they were using lights to inspect something in the house. It was really scary.'
Resident John Smallshaw said he was woken up just after 4am by 'five loud bangs in quick succession' and saw police raiding the house.
He said he later witnessed 'one young man taken on foot to a waiting ambulance.'
During the games the Olympic Park will be protected by the largest peacetime security operation ever seen in Britain.
The operation is understood to relate to a possible plot involving Islamist extremists with potential targets in the UK.
The threat was not thought to be imminent although the arrests were described as 'significant'.
Some of those arrested are understood to be British nationals.
The arrests happened days after two Muslim converts were held on suspicion of plotting an attack on the London Olympic canoeing venue.
The 18-year-old and 32-year-old suspects were detained in raids on their homes after being spotted in a dinghy nearby.
The terror alert level remains unchanged today at 'substantial' - which means there is a 'strong possibility' of an attack.
There are two higher levels - 'severe' and the highest level 'critical' which means an attack is expected imminently.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the six people held were being questioned at a south-east London police station.
Officers are searching six properties and a business premises across the capital.
A 29-year-old man was arrested in the street in Ealing, west London, a 21-year-old man and the women were arrested at a separate residential premises in Ealing.
Two other men aged 24, and 26, were arrested in Stratford while an 18-year-old man was detained in Newham.
The spokesman said: ‘Searches under the Terrorism Act 2000 are being carried out at eight residential premises in east, west and north London and one business premises in east London,' the spokesman added.
‘Public safety remains our overriding concern.'
The arrests come after Jonathan Evans, the director-general of the Security Service, warned last month that Britain had experienced a 'credible terrorist attack plot about once a year since 9/11'.
'In back rooms and in cars and on the streets of this country there is no shortage of individuals talking about wanting to mount terrorist attacks here,' he added.
'The threat is real and remains with us today.'
The threat to the UK from international terrorism is currently rated substantial - the third highest of five levels.
The rating is set by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (Jtac), based at MI5's headquarters at Thames House in central London, but is independent of the service.
