Women arrested in station swoop

TWO women were arrested at gunpoint at Liverpool Street station in central London yesterday on suspicion of terrorism, police confirmed.

The suspects were pinned to the ground in a dramatic swoop on the station concourse, which was evacuated as a suspect package was checked.

Scotland Yard confirmed that the women are in custody, but said it was “too early to say” if they are being detained in connection with the London transport network attacks.

Witnesses said more than 10 officers, some armed and others in plain clothes, descended on the suspects and ordered them to stretch out on the floor.

Passengers were ordered out of the Tube and mainline stations for more than an hour.

“They remain in custody but it is too early to say if they are connected to the London attacks.”

Both women were said to be wearing traditional Muslim dress. One is thought to have been in a queue for the Stansted Express when she was pushed to the ground by police. It is thought one of the two was carrying a rucksack.

Artur Yeroshin, 21, an Estonian shoe shiner living in east London, took video footage of the arrests on his mobile phone.

“The two girls who were arrested were in their 20s. They both had full headscarves and one looked Asian and one woman was black,” he said. “One girl had a dark bag on her back. The police asked to look in her bag and the girl ran away. Then the police arrested both girls and pushed them to the floor.”