Two brothers arrested at gunpoint in the bungled Forest Gate anti-terrorism raid last year were threatened by armed police only weeks before the start of the de Menezes trial, The Times has learnt.

The incident will put Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, under more pressure as he fights to keep his job after a jury convicted his force of catastophic errors resulting in the death of Jean Charles de Menezes.

Abdul Kahar Kalam, 24, who was shot and wounded by police in the dawn raid in East London last year, and his brother, Abul Koyair Kalam, 21, say that they were hauled off a motorbike by officers police shouting “Shoot him! Shoot him! Put him down!”

As many as eight armed officers surrounded the men, allegedly calling them “F***ing Pakis” and shouting: “That’s the two brothers.”

‘Items sent as earthquake aid’

Hidden among clothing were goods selected and purchased to support the activities of terrorists, a court was told

Multimedia

• Pictures: Glasgow airport attack

Background

• Brown plans to double 28-day detention limit

• Men in bungled raid say police attacked again

• More than Vigilance

• 'Dirty bomb' mastermind plotted wave of atrocities across Britain

• Jihadi house parties of hate

Related Links

• Met chief faces 12 days that could seal his fate

Lawyers for the brothers said yesterday that they feared for their lives after their second encounter with armed officers. They have asked Sir Ian to ensure that they are subjected to no further harassment.

Sir Ian is resisting calls to resign and says that he has made it his “personal task” to ensure that the lessons of Mr de Menezes’s death were incorporated into police training and operations.

Gareth Peirce, solicitor for the Kalam brothers, has written to Sir Ian saying: “It is entirely clear to us that the police have not been required to learn more lessons as a result of their behaviour in Forest Gate a year ago.”

The latest incident occurred at the end of August, 14 months after the Forest Gate raid and five weeks before Scotland Yard’s firearms tactics were put on trial at the Old Bailey.

In a written account seen by The Times the brothers said that they drove past the scene of an armed police raid near their home in East London, and were followed and stopped. They said that up to eight armed officers pulled them from the motorbike, throwing Kahar against some shop shutters and hurling Koyair to the ground.

They claimed that they heard the officers referring to them as “the brothers” and saying “they’re the ones”.

The men believe the officers knew that they had been arrested in June last year, when police raided their home acting on incorrect intelligence that they were hiding an explosive device. Kahar said he asked the officers: “Why are you doing this to us again?”

One of them allegedly replied: “We have our reasons.”

The men’s sister was passing on a bus as the police were handcuffing her brothers and disembarked to remonstrate with the officers.

She said she heard the officers referring to Kahar as a “f***ing Paki” to which he replied: “Yes, I’m proud to be a Paki.” The woman, who has asked not to be named, also heard police say: “That’s the two brothers.”

Another officer asked: “How many millions did you get?” The comment was thought to be a reference to the family’s claim for damages.

An independent witness saw the incident unfold and said in a statement that officers could be heard shouting: “Shoot him! Shoot him!”

The witness added: “There was a lot of shouting and everything happened very fast. I heard the man who was driving the bike shout ‘Why are you trying to shoot me?’.”

The brothers were held in handcuffs for ten minutes before being set free. As they were released they were allegedly told that they should think themselves lucky.

As their sister walked home, however, she was arrested by a uniformed police officer with whom she had exchanged angry words. She was taken to Forest Gate police station where she was held for 12 hours before being issued with a fixed penalty notice under the Public Order Act for causing harassment, alarm or distress.

Ms Peirce responded to the incident by writing a personal letter to Sir Ian about the “appalling situation” now faced by the family. She said: “The two brothers were again seized and threatened by armed police; threatened with being shot, assaulted and handcuffed and thrown on the ground without reason. They were then released and told to ‘think themselves lucky’ . . . “ She added: “Many Londoners, including the Kalam family, feel unsafe knowing that the same armed police officers are flagrantly and flamboyantly behaving in a way than endangers the citizens of London.”

Ms Peirce did not receive a reply directly from Sir Ian but from a commander in the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards. It said that Sir Ian was “unable to provide any guarantees to your clients or any other member of the public that they will not be involved in any police incident, armed or otherwise”.

The family rejected a complaints inquiry because of its disappointment with the Independent Police Complaints Commission report into the original raid. That cleared the police of wrongdoing but ordered Scotland Yard to make a public apology.

Police said: “Legal representatives of the individuals involved made it clear they did not want the matter investigated as a complaint and therefore no investigation took place. The IPCC were kept informed of the situation.”

Times Recommends

• The day they dropped a bomb on the banks
• Methodist minister sent herself hate mail
• Japanese insect to be used to fight knotweed