Police seize drugs and knives in a series of raids near site in Tooting where Lewis Elwin was murdered and Sadiq Khan's house

A raid on a Carribean Cafe in Furzedown was the first of a series of raids – named Operation Dibbin – across south west London in which 31 people have been arrested.

Plain-clothed police officers make an arrest

Three men were arrested just yards from where 20-year-old Lewis Elwin died after being stabbed on April 18 in an operation involving both plain-clothed and uniformed officers, as well as a police helicopter and dogs.

The move was a response to complaints of a spike in drug-related crime and violence in the area, as well as anti-social behaviour, such as intimidating behaviour and loud music.

First on the scene was a white van full of plain-clothed police officers, who arrested the men in Mitcham Lane just before 7pm on Tuesday.

Metropolitan Police said three large combat knives, lock knives, both class A and B drugs and around £100,000 in cash were seized over the course of the two-day operation.

Uniformed officers secure the area 

The dedicated ward officer for Furzedown, PC Lucy Hartshorn, said a police operation was important to show residents the police are listening to their concerns.

She said: “People tell us they don’t feel safe – it’s things like young people gathering, blocking the pavement, playing loud music.

Mitcham Road was closed for around an hour during the raid

“The most frustrating thing for me as the face of the ward, and in meetings with the community they tell me their problems and what they feel the issues are, and I’m not allowed to say exactly what we’re doing.

“An element of what we do has to be covert.

“Today wasn’t expected but it’s the most effective way to do it.

“Now that we’re able to communicate what we’ve done, it will be invaluable, really to say that we have listened.”

Other raids took place in Streatham, Tulse Hill, Mitcham, Southwark, West Norwood and Carshalton.

Craig Hilsenrath, 25, a personal trainer from Eardley Road, Streatham, said he saw two large police vans, cars, and “about a dozen cops” forming a cordon around the shop as an arrested man was led into the back of a van.

Mr Hilsenrath said: “I saw the blues and twos flashing at the end of the road as I came under the bridge, so I thought I’d head down past Saino’s to rubberneck.

“There was a small group of guys heckling the cops as they loaded a man into the back of a paddy wagon. He had his hood up to hide his face.

“A cop had a big evidence bag with something that looked like a big silver corrugated baked bean tin stripped of its commercial wrapper. I wonder what was inside.”