13:39

Forensic officers used wooden sticks to search through grass and debris outside a house that was raided by anti-terror police in Birmingham. Police took away a “smirking man” during the armed raid at the property, which was streets away from where Khalid Masood allegedly lived with his wife and young child.

Officers shone torches into air vents below and searched through foliage at the three-storey property in Winson Green, where a man of “Saudi” appearance was reportedly arrested early on Thursday.



Following the raid police seized three vehicles. The red Renault Kangoo van and two cars – a white Ford Ka and a silver BMW estate – were taken away on recovery trucks. Shortly afterwards, police officers emerged from the property carrying a plastic box.



The house is on the same estate as a three-storey townhouse thought to have been occupied by London terrorist Khalid Masood. The 52-year-old is believed to have lived just two streets away in Quayside with his wife and young child.



Residents said armed officers had forced their way in to the property at about 6.30am on Thursday.



One local, who asked not to be named, said: “A Saudi Arabian man lived at the address with his wife and four children, all aged under 15. He had been living there less than a year.”

The property raided was a housing association property and a short distance from Winson Green prison.



The neighbour added: “Police have been in my garden and have been searching. There was nothing unusual about the family, I used to see the dad going over to the park. He would regularly feed the birds. But I would very rarely see him with his wife or kids. The police have been here the whole time, in and out.”

Another neighbour, Shekila Sahota, said a man, thought to be in his 40s or 50s, had lived at the address with several young women for about a year.



“They were very, very quiet people and I never saw them together. But he used to make a lot of trips up and down the road and he sold cars from here,” she said. “The police knocked the door in at about 6.30am and you could hear them shouting ‘Open’ and ‘Clear’ and ‘Get down’.



“The man they led away was put in the van straight away and he had a big smirk on his face when they took him away.”



Raveena Rull, who also witnessed the raid, said: “It was really scary – there were guns everywhere. You don’t know what’s going on and it’s just mad. He was smiling as he was arrested with the whole road blocked off.”



On Friday afternoon a large police presence remained at the scene with officers searching the surrounding area.