About a dozen uniformed police in riot gear, and a handful of detectives, gathered outside the four-storey terraced house on a quiet street just off Shepherds Bush roundabout in West London. After a tip-off from overseas colleagues, they knew that inside was a man in contact with a group planning a bombing in Central Europe. His name was Younes Tsouli, but the detectives knew little more about him.
As they tried to shove their way in, the young man in the top-floor flat forced his door shut. It didn’t hold for long. Once the police flooded in, there was a struggle. A mirror smashed and one officer emerged bloodied from a shard of glass. Tsouli was overpowered. “He was thoroughly detained,” one detective recalls. At first, officers were not sure that they had the right person: the long-haired young man in jogging shorts bore little resemblance to the short-haired man in the photo they had been given. But when he confirmed his name, they knew they had their man. Two detectives led him away.