Police raid quiet Hawkinge cul-de-sac

A QUIET leafy neighbourhood in Hawkinge became the scene of an early-morning police raid today.

Curlew Place, a small exclusive cul-de-sac, was besieged by dozens of undercover and uniformed officers, who were thought to be acting under anti-terrorism laws.

Kent Police has not yet confirmed what part of the Terrorism Act it is operating under, but the force is due to make an announcement shortly.

One man appeared to be arrested at around 8.20am at the Hawkinge roundabout.

One motorist said: "People from a number of blacked out people-carriers cuffed him and pushed him up against a fence and they were only slowly letting traffic go past.

"It didn't look like a standard stop.

"There was a school-age girl in uniform sitting in the front passenger seat of the guy's car."

A number of plain-clothed officers are still at the three-bedroom semi-detached house and have closed off the road to all but those who live there. When he arrived, the postman was escorted around to make deliveries.

Curlew Place is in one of Hawkinge's new developments near the Lidl supermarket and was only completed two years ago.

One neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: "As I did the school run there were loads of police around.

"I am not sure what it's all for but there were an awful lot of them and it all started just before 8am. This is a quiet neighbourhood and things like this don't happen around here."

Kent Police have not commented.