Three men have been charged after allegedly kidnapping three others, who were ‘rescued by armed police’ in a dramatic armed raid on a Bermondsey estate on Monday.
Denzil Kwame, 23, of Marden Square in Bermondsey, Daniel Ogedengbe, 20, of Fairthorn Road in Charlton and Kevin Yoro of Reaston Street in New Cross were charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment, blackmail, robbery and actual bodily harm.
Yoro was also charged with possession of a firearm and possession of a bladed article after the raid on Marden Square on Drummond Road. All three men appeared in custody on Wednesday (June 8) at Croydon Magistrates Court.
Three victims, men in their early twenties, were taken from the flat and are being treated in hospital.
Watch: Armed police make dramatic Bermondsey council estate raid
The news comes after we reported how a Marden Square resident was startled to see armed police poking about his garden in the early hours of Monday morning. Footage shows the officer walking across the garden checking the doors of some kind of storage facility, while another man says “armed police, step back inside”.
“I just heard these noises in the garden,” Ben Brown said. “We saw this armed police officer waving a gun around, it was pretty alarming.”
Police were still on the estate at about 12.30pm on Monday, although the armed officers had gone by then.
A spokesperson for the police added: “The arrests follow a call to police on Sunday, 5 June reporting welfare concerns for an individual.
“As a result of the call a proactive operation was initiated by Flying Squad detectives, who were supported by other specialist units from across the Met.
“A series of searches of vehicles and premises were conducted at various locations across south east London.”
Who are the Flying Squad? The elite police unit who raided Bermondsey’s Marden Square this week