2 June 2006 Forest Gate raid

The 2006 Forest Gate raid saw the arrest of two men at their east London homes in Forest Gate by police acting on what they described as "specific intelligence" that they might be terrorists in possession of a chemical bomb. One of the men was shot during the raid. No explosive devices were found during the raid, nor was there any evidence of terrorist activity. The men were released without charge. Mohammed Abdul Kahar was again cleared, after 44 indecent images of children had been found embedded in the memories of a computer, an external hard drive and a mobile phone recovered during the raid. No charges were filed, as: "The prosecution was not satisfied that Mr Kahar had the necessary computer expertise to enable him ... to transfer the images to the Nokia phone."

Subsequent inquiries cleared the officers involved of any "criminal or disciplinary offence". Metropolitan Police apologised for the raid. The apology was welcomed by the families affected, but they demanded the investigation of the steps the police took to assess the quality of the intelligence leading to the raids.

The cost of the operation exceeded two million pounds.

Early on Friday, 2 June 2006, police raided two houses on Lansdown Road, Forest Gate, London, acting on intelligence that there was a chemical weapon located at the premises. Under the authority of the Terrorism Act, they arrested brothers Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, and Abdul Koyair, 20. During the raid, Kahar was shot in the shoulder (some sources mention "chest" based on Mr Kahar's comment of "There was blood coming down my chest.") by the police and was taken to the Royal London Hospital. Initial press rumours suggested that he had been shot by his brother, but the police later stated that the shot had been fired accidentally by the armed officer leading the operation. 250 police officers were involved in the raid.

In the same raid, an unnamed and unrelated family, renting a neighbouring terraced house from the father of the two arrested men, was also raided in conditions that have been described by their lawyer as "as lawless as the wild west".

Nearby roads were closed to the public for several days whilst investigations were carried out, and a prohibition on aircraft flying below 2,500 ft was imposed on the area. However, no chemical materials were found and the two brothers were released without charge in the evening of 9 June. After the two men gave a press conference on 13 June, the Metropolitan Police apologised for the "hurt" caused.

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Wikipedia