Man shot in terror raid is arrested

A man who was shot by police today in an anti-terrorist raid has been arrested in hospital.

The 23-year-old man was held on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism, Scotland Yard said.

He was shot once during a raid by 250 officers, some in protective bio-chemical suits, at a terraced property in Lansdown Road, Forest Gate, east London, at 4am.

A second man, aged 20, was arrested during the raid.

The man is believed to have been taken to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London.

Security has been stepped up at the hospital and there was a heavy police presence with armed officers standing guard at all the entrances.

A hospital spokesman refused to confirm whether the man had been admitted but said there was a heavier police presence than usual.

Police said that two people in the house at the time of the raid were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and have since been released. They were not shot and are believed to have been suffering shock.

Units involved in today's operation included CO19, CO11 and SO13 as well as officers from the Territorial Support Group and Newham Borough.

Police said explosives officers were also in attendance as a precautionary measure. They would not confirm if explosives were found at the scene.

At least a dozen firefighters from London Fire Brigade were present at the scene.

Police would also not confirm that the mobile phone network in the area around the property was deactivated during the raid.

Police said no other property had been evacuated and an air exclusion zone was put in place above the area of the search.

A police helicopter was present at the raid this morning to monitor the operation and take photographs.

The property within the police cordon had a smashed ground floor window, which police said was used to gain entry.

The white UPVC double-glazed window could be seen with a smashed pane. It remained open, with net curtains hanging out.

Two police tents have been erected in front of the house, covering part of the road, the pavement and the pathway to the front door.

The house, which is in a leafy tree-lined street, is double-fronted and consists of two Victorian terraced homes that have been knocked together. It does not have a basement, police said.

Police were conducting a fingertip search of the property and a number of specialist forensic officers had also been brought in.

A white van which police said was a command post was parked outside the property and this was being used to co-ordinate the operation.

Police said this was the second man to have been shot in London by officers from CO19 since July 22 last year when Jean Charles de Menezes was shot at Stockwell Tube station.

A spokeswoman added that the Independent Police Complaints Commission are still investigating an incident on December 7 last year on Strode Road, Fulham, where a man in a vehicle was shot.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who was chairing a meeting of the British-Irish Council at the ExCel Centre in east London, announced he was leaving early to meet Home Secretary John Reid.

He said: "As you know, there has been a serious police incident and due to this, I have to leave out my opening remarks to go back to Number 10 to be briefed by the Home Secretary."

The house at the centre of the raid is thought to have been under surveillance for some time.

According to neighbours, it was home to an extended Muslim family.

Neighbours described seeing a man wearing a bloodstained T-shirt being carried out of the house following the raid.

Several other people in the house were moved but not arrested.

A decision to launch the raid on the terrace property in Lansdown Road, Forest Gate, east London, followed discussions between the Security Service, the anti-terrorist branch and bio-chemical experts from the Health Protection Agency (HPA).

It followed intelligence about a suspected plot against the UK rather than abroad.

But detectives do not believe there were any links to the July 7 bombings in London.

Police vans moved into the street silently under cover of darkness so that if there were explosives in the house, there would be no time to detonate them.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said its officers at the scene wore protective clothing as a "precautionary measure" and the HPA later described the risk to the public as "very low".

The Met spokesman said: "Public safety is a priority and at this stage there is nothing to suggest members of the public in the immediate area are at risk.

"If we believe there is a potential risk, appropriate action will be taken."

Police will be launching a meticulous search of the property and Mr Reid was being kept informed of developments.

Mr Prescott chaired a meeting in Downing Street this morning in which he was briefed on the situation.

Speaking at the police cordon, a woman in her 50s, who has lived in Lansdown Road for more than 25 years, said a Muslim family lived at the address at the centre of the police raid.

The family consisted of a man and a woman and their four children, two girls and two boys, all aged in their teens, she said.

"They were respectable and nice people and we do not know anything else. They have always been nice to us," she said.

"They have lived there for a long time. The kids all go to school locally."

The woman said the property at the centre of the raid was a three-bedroom terrace home with a small garden at the rear.

Describing the moment the police arrived in the street, she said: "I looked through my window and I saw the police vehicles. They were coming very quietly. There wasn't any noise at all. I didn't hear any bangs."

One neighbour spoke of seeing a man in his late 20s wearing a bloodstained T-shirt being carried out of the house after the raid.

He said the operation early this morning had involved "the most police I've seen in my life", as well as officers wearing chemical protection suits.

The neighbour said he recognised the bloodied man carried out of the house but did not know him by name.

A bloodstained bandage was still lying on the road outside his house and police were restricting residents' access to their homes, he added.

A woman living opposite the raided house said: "The police have put a tent up outside the house. There are 30 or 40 officers there. Last night there were over 100.

"I have seen the people who live there but they don't talk to us. They are Pakistani."

The neighbour, who asked not to be named, said police had been seen near the house about a week ago.

"There were three or four police vans there last week," she said.

Dimple Hirani, 21, a student at London Metropolitan University, said she might have gone to school with one of the teenage boys from the family.

She said: "If it's the house I'm thinking of, I went to school with one of the lads. They were really nice lads and really nice people.

"I never thought anything of it. Lots of young Muslims these days are getting more religious, especially after 9/11. It's nothing to be suspicious about.

"It's a friendly area, especially this street. It's very friendly, we all know each other. We are very sociable people, this street in particular."

She said the children of the family were born in the UK.

Salim Mala, 42, who runs a shop less than 200 yards from the scene of the raid, said the area was a "mixed community" with a large number of Bengali and Pakistani families who have lived there for some time and a recent influx of people from eastern Europe.

Other neighbours said it was a "typical east London area".

Following the raid, police sealed off a large area between Green Street and Katherine Road, close to East Ham Memorial Hospital.

Plain-clothes officers could be seen driving in the area in unmarked cars, including Range Rovers, and many uniformed officers were still waiting in police vans and hired vans around the scene.

Some of the officers in Lansdown Road were wearing blue boiler suits over what appeared to be black plastic chemical outfits with hoods as well as black plastic over-shoes.

There were explosives officers and firearms officers at the scene.

The HPA said the risk to the public from harmful substances was considered to be "very low".

In a statement, the agency said: "The HPA provided expert advice to the police and other emergency services on the potential health risks of the raid to officers and members of the public.

"Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) was worn as a precautionary measure. The risk to the public is considered to be very low. The HPA continues to provide ongoing advice to officers at the scene."

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) announced it will use its own investigators to examine the shooting.

Deborah Glass, IPCC Commissioner for London and the South East, said: "The incident was referred to the IPCC immediately and investigators were deployed to the scene.

"An examination of the officers' firearms confirms that a single shot was discharged in circumstances which are currently under investigation.

"We can confirm that the injuries to the man are not life-threatening."

The IPCC's investigation is being led by senior investigator Simon Cousins and will be overseen by Ms Glass.

Ms Glass spent the morning speaking to community representatives and senior officers at the Metropolitan Police.

The Met's counter-terrorism operation at the scene continues to have priority over the IPCC's investigation into the shooting.