{"id":76881,"date":"2025-05-05T16:22:18","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T16:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/76881\/"},"modified":"2025-05-05T16:22:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T16:22:18","slug":"my-son-called-me-saying-dont-go-to-the-park-theres-men-with-guns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/76881\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMy son called me saying \u2018don\u2019t go to the park \u2013 there\u2019s men with guns\u2019\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Masked and armed police swoop to make terror arrest on leafy Stockport street<\/p>\n

17:25, 04 May 2025Updated 17:33, 04 May 2025<\/p>\n

Police on Heathbank Road in Cheadle Hulme(Image: Submitted)<\/p>\n

Neighbours have told of shocking scenes as a terror arrest was made on a leafy Stockport<\/a> street yesterday (May 3) as part of an ongoing nationwide probe.<\/p>\n

Armed police made arrests in Rochdale<\/a>, Stockport, and Manchester on Saturday (May 3). Three men, aged 40, 29, and one whose age is yet to be confirmed, have been arrested and remain in police custody.<\/p>\n

As part of the operation, further arrests were also carried out in Swindon and west London. All the men, except the individual arrested in Manchester, are believed to be Iranian nationals.<\/p>\n

The investigation, led by the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, along with Greater Manchester Police<\/a> and Wiltshire Police, led to multiple arrests in relation to a suspected terrorist plot to ‘target a specific premises’.<\/p>\n

Police descended on Heathbank Road in hulme<\/a>>Cheadle<\/a> Hulme at around 5:30pm on Saturday (May 3). Neighbours described tactical aid units blocking off the road near Greenbank Preparatory School as masked Met Police officers descended from unmarked cars and swooped in to detain a number of individuals.<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Police later confirmed that a 29-year-old man was arrested at the scene.<\/p>\n

Tactical aid units on Heathbank Road(Image: Sarah Cash)<\/p>\n

One neighbour on Billy\u2019s Lane, which runs behind the school, said she heard \u201cwhat sounded like men shouting\u201d from her back garden. \u201cIt sounded like they were having a fight,\u201d she said. \u201cBut then we saw police vans blocking off the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another local resident, Sarah Cash, said she had been walking along Heathbank Road from Nursery Road to collect her son from Heathbank Park some 100 metres away when she was stopped from continuing by tactical aid officers blocking off the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were Met Police and they were all covered up with caps and balaclavas,\u201d she said. \u201cThey said we couldn\u2019t go any further.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI said our son was at the park and we had to get to him. We were told the children were safe \u2013 but we had to stand around waiting for over an hour and our son wasn\u2019t answering his phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the police line, Sarah said she could see a man sitting cross-legged on the floor. \u201cHe had his hands cuffed behind his back, and there were two more men further down who were handcuffed as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Children were playing in Heathbank Park when armed police arrived(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

The Manchester Evening News understands these arrests were not centred around or linked to one address but rather took place on the road. There did not appear to be any police scene or activity in the area today (May 4).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite a boring area normally,\u201d said another woman living on nearby Nursery Road. \u201cSo we were shocked when we heard a massive commotion from the garden. We looked outside and saw the road blocked off with tactical aid units going past.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, she had a call from her son who had been playing in Heathbank Park. \u201cHe said, \u2018don\u2019t go to the park \u2013 there\u2019s men with guns\u2019. These turned out to be armed police.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur window cleaner got permission to walk through the line,\u201d the woman continued. \u201cHe said he saw a man lying on the ground with cable ties on his wrists and ankles \u2013 and he had police with guns trained on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tactical aid units at the junction of Nursery Road and Heathbank Road(Image: Sarah Cash)<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Police said five men have been arrested in total on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act, contrary to section 5 of the Terrorism Act (TACT), 2006. They added the investigation relates to a ‘suspected plot to target a specific premises’.<\/p>\n

They were a 29-year-old man who was arrested in the Swindon area; a 46-year-old man who was arrested in west London; a 29-year-old man who was arrested in the Stockport area; a 40-year-old man who was arrested in the Rochdale area and another man who was arrested in the Manchester area.<\/p>\n

Four men are Iranian nationals. The nationality of the fifth man is still being established, the Met said.<\/p>\n

Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met\u2019s Counter Terrorism Command, said: \u201cThis is a fast-moving investigation and we are working closely with those at the affected site to keep them updated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe investigation is still in its early stages and we are exploring various lines of enquiry to establish any potential motivation as well as to identify whether there may be any further risk to the public linked to this matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand the public may be concerned and as always, I would ask them to remain vigilant and if they see or hear anything that concerns them, then to contact us.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working closely with local officers in the areas where we have made arrests today and I\u2019d like to thank police colleagues around the country for their ongoing support.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Masked and armed police swoop to make terror arrest on leafy Stockport street 17:25, 04 May 2025Updated 17:33,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,17753,393,4884,187,2465,135,13466,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-76881","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-cheadle-and-cheadle-hulme","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-greater-manchester-police","13":"tag-manchester","14":"tag-metropolitan-police","15":"tag-terrorism","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114456149839060265","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}