Police have raided a third Ilford house in three days, metres from a gym where it is believed the London Bridge attackers met before the terrorist assault.
A house in Wingate Road, off Ilford Lane, has been cordoned off by officers all morning, with a heavy police presence in the street.
Residents have also reported a number of helicopters overhead.
Last night the Met confirmed officers made three more arrests and carried out two more searches in Ilford in connection with the London Bridge attack.
From around 10pm armed police arrested two men, aged 27 and 33, on a street in Ilford.
A 29-year-old man was also arrested after a search warrant was carried out at a “residential property” in Ilford, while a “business premises” was also searched.
This morning the house in Wingate Road and also the Ummah Fitness Centre in St Luke’s Avenue are cordoned off.
A 50-year-old neighbour in Wingate Road told the Recorder she had “heard a bloke screaming and then police dragged a guy out of the house” last night, she also claimed there had been “lots of police with guns” in the street.
Another resident said: “It was about 10pm and it was raining really hard, they brought a family out and made them wait out in the rain with no umbrellas or nothing.
“There was lots of panic and the police came out of unmarked cars.”
Another eyewitness, said: “I heard a commotion outside and assumed it was a fight but within seconds I thought, that can’t be a fight, it’s too organised.
“I looked out of the window briefly and saw about 10 armed police officers on the streets. The whole street was full of armed police officers.”
The neighbour stressed the family within the house had always been approachable and admitted he was “bewildered” at the raid.
“First and foremost my heart goes out to the family that were raided, because they are such a lovely bunch of people from what I know of them.
“They are the sorts of people who would send someone over with a couple of plates of food if they found out you were running out of food.”
He said: “We are a proud community, we are close, we would have reported anything we suspected.”
On Tuesday and Wednesday officers had carried out two other raids on houses in Ilford in connection with Saturday night’s London Bridge terror attack that killed eight people, and injured dozens.
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