By 4pm yesterday afternoon the pavement outside an unassuming Birmingham property had become a meeting point for the curious and the confused.

Groups of teenage boys and residents had stationed themselves outside of the house in St Margarets Road, Ward End, as they listened to news of the arrest of two of their neighbours.

Hours earlier it had been raided by the police, followed by a lengthy search under the Terrorism Act by police officers and forensic scientists.

The spectators refused to move from their spot - worried they might miss any new developments, answering questions from neighbours and motorists, who stopped to query the police presence.

Occasionally, the search team would exit the house, carrying items wrapped in police evidence bags, only to re-enter moments later leaving their audience to dream up conspiracy theories.

But many who knew the occupants reacted with disbelief as they discussed the recent news of the airport terror alert and the arrests.

One neighbour, Adiel Majid, who attended Washwood Heath School with one of the occupants, claimed that the family had been misunderstood. He said he believed there had been a case of mistaken identity although police last night refused to confirm who had actually been arrested.

"I did not really know them that well but went to school with them. They had their heads down at school," he said.

"Their father runs a cake business and they are going to take over their father's business. I cannot see the sons sending money to fund terrorism. Even the bad people in this area are not that bad.

"They are very religious as both their mother and father are religious. They have got beards and I think this was probably the reason for them to be suspected.

"I think the mother was arrested for no reason because I do not think she has got anything to do with it.

"The community is angry about that as it could be anyone's mother or mine."

Mr Majid claimed that it was not the first time the house had been visited by the police.

He said: "They have raided here three to four times before and someone said they had been watched for about two weeks."

Their next-door neighbour, 85-year-old June Lethbridge, said the first she knew of the raids was when she woke up and saw the police vans out-side her house at 8am.

The pensioner said a family had lived next door for 12 years but she did not know how many were residents and how many were visitors.

She said: "They've always been very pleasant. As far as I know, most of the family are in Pakistan for a wedding at the moment. I haven't seen them come back. I hope everything gets cleared up."

Ms Lethbridge pointed out a purpose-built structure in the back garden where she said lessons were held for children.

She said a dozen or so youngsters attended classes, held in English, in the out-house.

Ikram Ulhaq, whose 12-year-old daughter received lessons in basic Islam from a woman who lived at the address, described the residents as "peaceful people".

"I don't know what happened there, all I know is they are peaceful, religious people," he said.

"They were teaching Koran and all that to the young kids, how they read the Koran, how they pray five times a day.

"I'm shocked, I'm definitely sure they've got the wrong people."