Two men arrested as armed police recover bottle of ‘noxious fluid’ from car in Canonbury

Two men have been arrested after armed police recovered a bottle of “suspected noxious fluid” from a car in Canonbury.

The car was stopped, and the men arrested, in Elmore Street at about 6.20pm on Wednesday evening.

A Met spokesman said officers “became suspicious of a car in the Islington area”. The cops tried to stop the vehicle, but it made off.

The car was eventually stopped by armed officers in Elmore Street. A bottle of suspected noxious fluid was recovered, as well as a balaclava.

The men, both aged 26, were arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon. They remain in custody.

But one eyewitness told the Gazette: “I rather suspect there’s more to it than the given story of officers becoming suspicious of a car. The suspect’s car was hemmed in at the exit of Elmore Street emerging onto Essex Road by a large number of police vehicles, most of them unmarked.

“There were specialist firearms officers and many undercover police. It looked like a planned operation, that the police had the suspects under surveillance.”