Nearby workers have spoken of their shock after police raided a house in Dagenham in connection with the London Bridge terror attacks.
Since 4.15am this morning officers have been camped out outside a seemingly derelict property in Ripple Road, Dagenham, an industrial stretch off the busy A13 that is dominated by businesses.
Eddy Poole, 48, an engineering storeman who works a few doors down at Arriva, said: “The police were all there when I came into work at 5.50am. My engineer was here earlier and said he heard three explosions. The police were here and people who looked like they were from the army.”
The Hedgemans Road, Dagenham, resident said the incident was “surprising”. “There aren’t many people around here as there are so many businesses, it’s quite quiet like that,” he explained.
Colleague Abdul Gordon, a bus driver at Arriva, said he was shocked at the investigation.
“I’m surprised,” he said. “I haven’t seen anything suspicious there, I don’t know the people who live there,” he said. “It’s a very safe area, nothing goes on here, you’ve got a few businesses but that’s it. People are just coming here to work and go home.”
This is the latest address under investigation after seven women and four men were arrested at two addresses in Barking yesterday, following the atrocities on Saturday night.
At 10.08pm on Saturday emergency services received reports that a white van had struck pedestrians on London Bridge. The van then drove to Borough Market where the three men left the vehicle and stabbed a number of people.
The three suspects, wore hoax suicide vests, were shot and killed in Borough Market within eight minutes of the emergency services being called.
Seven people have died, in addition to the three attackers, and a further 48 people were taken to hospital, some of whom are believed to be suffering serious and life threatening injuries.
This is the third terror attack to hit the UK in less than three months, after Khalid Masood drove a car into pedestrians on the pavement of Westminster Bridge on March 22, killing four people, before stabbing a police officer outside the Palace of Westminster.
Just a fortnight ago, on May 22, a lone individual Salman Abedi killed 23 people including himself in a suicide bombing at Manchester Arena, following a concert by American singer Ariana Grande.
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