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20-strong steaming gang bring terror to travellers
By Oliver Finegold, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 31.08.04Police are hunting a gang of 20 men who raided a train - stabbing one man in the leg and threatening other passengers with broken bottles and knives.
The steaming gang, described as black and in their late teens to early twenties, surrounded their victims and robbed them of their mobile phones, wallets and jewellery as they travelled on the Silverlink metro service in north London.
The attack happened last night as crowds made their way home from the Notting Hill Carnival.
Some passengers tried to fight back but were beaten down into their seats.
As the train approached Brondesbury station at about 8pm passengers
pressed the emergency alarm to alert the driver and made frantic 999 calls to the police.
But the gang continued their attack, only stopping when they heard the sound of approaching police sirens.
Officers were on the scene within minutes - but when the train pulled into the station the gang had already escaped and run off into Kilburn.
Sergeant Barry Carpenter of British Transport Police confirmed there was a possibility that the attack was carnival related.
He said: "The heavy police presence at the carnival tends to push out crime and trouble into the surrounding areas especially when you get large numbers of people travelling back on the train late at night."
