* YOU BEEN SNAP *NDIYOOOOOOOOO!!! It's payback time for the looters; Police snatch squads swoop on homes of riot suspects in a string of dawn raids across London"

• Youth paraded through the street and bundled into police van
• Nike trainers and Hugo Boss jeans recovered from Pimlico flat
• Quiet night across the capital as riots die down.

*MKILETEWA HAPA   NA FLORA LYIMO DESIGNER*

Police took revenge on dozens of riot looters last night as they kicked in their front doors and hauled them into the street.

Riot officers armed with battering rams descended on a string of properties as they looked for pay back over the chaos that swept the country.

The officers collared one suspect at a home in Brixton after receiving a tip off that he had been involved in the disturbances.

He is likely to be the first of hundreds more who are brought to justice as a huge public backlash grows against the troublemakers.

How does it feel? A suspected looter is paraded through the street and bundled into a police van after his home in Brixton was raided last night;

The police action came as the rioters' reign of terror seemingly evaporated into the night.

Just as the first bursts of violence in Tottenham came from nowhere, so the trouble unexpectedly receded. Contributory factors may have included the fact that police forces throughout the nation were braced for action with as many blue uniformed bodies as they could put on the street; 16,000 in London alone.

Perhaps the three deaths in Birmingham yesterday prompted a rethink by some. And with the arrest figures in London alone up to 888 perhaps there were just too few rioters and looters to cause the same level of disturbance.

But with no serious incidents overnight, simply a procession of charged rioters trudging through overnight court sittings, the lull in violence begs the question: Is the worst over?

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK MY DEARS"

He means business: A riot office with steely stare carrying a battering ram strides down the street, bashing down a suspect's front door;

Brought to justice: The suspect is pulled from his front doors while officers rummage through his home in search of looted goods;

On Wednesday youths had rampaged through Manchester's city centre, turning it into a war zone, and boasted that the government had lost control of the cities. They pledged to continue as long as they could.

And even if they do get caught, they are not afraid of the consequences, with one telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'What are they gonna do? Give me an Asbo? I'll live with that.'

London remained relatively calm on Tuesday evening thanks to a mammoth police presence, but looting and thuggery continued in Birmingham and Liverpool, and broke out for the first time in Manchester, Nottingham and Gloucester.

Regional forces, seemingly caught on the back foot after donating hundreds of riot officers to help the Met regain control of the capital, struggled to contain hundreds of yobs who took to the high streets to loot.

Upmarket: Police officers prepare to carry out a raid on a property on the Churchill Gardens estate in Pimlico, London last night;

Police, open up: Officers rush through the doorway of the flat in Pimlico where looted goods were suspected of being held;

KWA NINI UNAWAFICHA USO ZAO WEZI HAWA BWANAAAAAA..

Gotcha: The suspect us lead away in handcuffs followed closely behind by another suspected looter from the riots in London on Monday evening;

Bounty: Police officers show off goods recovered from the raid, including a pair of Nike shoes and Hugo Boss clothing including jeans, shirts and a coat;

But the Met pledged that policing numbers would remain at an unprecedented high for the second night in a row, leaving forces elsewhere without crack teams trained for public disorder as they saw 16,000 police on the streets.

Scotland Yard today said that 888 people had now been arrested in connection with violence, disorder and looting in the capital, with 371 charged.

On Wednesday a police source told Mail Online that while there were no early reports of trouble in the capital, there will remain a 'higher more visible police presence on the streets'.

Tough: Riot police hold a man to the ground after he was found drunk outside a pub on Eltham High Street in London, last night;

Standing watch: A line of police officers stand on Eltham High Street in London last night as riots across the capital died down;

Surrounded: Riot police make a circle around a group of local people who has gathered outside a church in Eltham last night;

'The policing will be widespread across the capital,' he added, 'and as we have done on previous nights we will be concentrating on areas where we have the most concerns.'

In Manchester, where rioters rampaged through the central shopping district, burning and looting shops and fighting running battles with police, police said they were making no special preparations.

Greater Manchester Police said that they were not expecting a second night of violence in the city, but did concede that there would be more police on standby than were available to commanders last night.

Lockdown: Riot police frisk people on a street in Croydon, south London;

Courts flooded: At the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court in London rioters were charged through the night, in scenes that were repeated across the country;

A source said: 'There's not a lot happening. It's raining here at the moment and we're doing our rain dance and hoping they [the rioters] will keep away.

'We have certainly got more officers tonight than last night, but whether they are out or not is another matter because there's nothing happening.'

However, rioters quoted by BBC Radio showed a terrifying sense of impunity about their role in the violent clashes that gripped the heart of the city last night.

Pitched battles: Mounted police outside the Arndale Centre in Manchester's main shopping district last night. The city was gripped by violence as youths looted and pillaged shops;

'Why are you going to miss the opportunity to get free stuff,' one asked a reporter during the unrest last night.

'The government are not in control because if they were we wouldn't be able to do it would we?'

The young looters told the Today programme that they were unconcerned about being caught and did not expect that they would have to suffer as a result of their crimes.

'This will be my first offence,' continued the young miscreant. 'I've not been in trouble before so I'm not really bothered.

'I'll get a caution. The prisons are full.'

The Metropolitan Police's Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Stephen Kavanagh, said some of his officers were disappointed with the sentences handed out so far to looters.

He told BBC Breakfast: 'That has been personally raised by me and others, and the commissioner I know has also raised it, so we will move through those issues and I am confident we will get the support of the courts.'

He said the huge policing presence on the streets would continue for another night, and would then be reviewed.

He added that more than 100 arrest warrants were being executed this morning.

Elsewhere in the country, police were confident they would be able to keep control of the streets.

West Midlands Police, responsible for maintaining order in three areas where lawlessless broke out last night promised that there were enough officers to protect communities.

In Birmingham, three men out on the streets to protect their community were tragically killed after a rioter hit them with a car, while in West Bromwich and Wolverhampton youths ran amok.

In a statement published on the force's website, Chief Constable Chris Sims promised that 600 specially trained riot officers would be deployed across the region

All leave for West Midlands officers has been cancelled and the force has, where possible, suspended other operations, Mr Sims said.

Nottinghamshire Police is also deploying more officers tonight after Nottingham was rocked by civil disorder that saw a mob firebomb a police station.

A spokesman for the force told MailOnline that they had not sent any officers to help with the policing effort in London and that they had been given operational support by South Yorkshire police.

She said that the force were 'more than prepared' for any outbreaks of violence but added that intelligence indicated the city would be quieter tonight.

In Gloucester, a dispersal order covering areas where violence broke out will come into from tomorrow and last until February 11, 2012.

The order is being introduced in response to an increase in groups behaving in an anti-social way and intimidating local residents and shoppers.


'The order allows police or Police Community Support Officers to direct any groups of two or more to leave the area for 24 hours when they believe the behaviour of the group is likely to result in members of the public being harassed, alarmed or distressed,' a force spokesman said.