Two arrests at Liverpool Street station
Armed police arrested two women at Liverpool Street station and evacuated the area, officers said today.
The suspects were pinned to the ground in a dramatic swoop on the central London station, witnesses said.
One woman is thought to have been in a queue for the Stansted Express when she was pushed to the ground by police.
British Transport Police said the operation was carried out by Scotland Yard officers and confirmed that the site was being searched. Both the mainline station and the Underground station were evacuated.
Both Liverpool Street Underground and mainline stations were later reopened. “A number of packages were examined, but the stations have now been reopened,” said a spokesman.
A BTP spokesman said: “The two women were arrested at around 1.54pm."
A witness told BBC News 24 that plainclothes police “suddenly burst into the main centre of the station and arrested two women.
“They pinned them down on the floor, put their hands behind their backs, put handcuffs on them and took them away,” he said.
“All the station staff arrived and started evacuating the station. They’ve now evacuated the whole of Liverpool Street station and some of the streets nearby.
“There are now hundreds of people surrounding the station who were trying to catch a train and can’t get in.”
He said: “One witness said one of the women was queuing at the Stansted Express ticket office and another said they saw a rucksack nearby on the floor, but I didn’t see that.”
He said he saw plainclothes officers “wearing caps which indicated they were police”.
“I was getting off one train, and probably about 20 yards away from one of the those women when she was arrested.
“Initially there was obviously a bit of chaos. They tried to push people away and tried to stop people taking pictures with their mobile telephones.
“They were gradually pushing people further and further back.”
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