Alice Gross Search 'Biggest Since 7/7'
Police want people to hand in any film from Ealing and Hanwell
Twenty four days into the search for missing Hanwell teenager Alice Gross the operation has become the biggest of its kind since the 7/7 bombings.
Officers are now widening the search area including broadening the CCTV footage they are keen to look at. So far hundreds of hours of CCTV have been seized and viewed.
They would like to hear from you if you may have footage from the Ealing and Hanwell area, not just from 28th August, the day Alice disappeared, but also up to 3rd September when their chief suspect was last seen.
Over 600 officers from across the Met have been drawn in to handle and follow up the calls which have been received from the public, over 630 so far.
Specialist search trained officers, police dogs and divers have all been mobilised. Officers have so far targeted open spaces, waterways and disused buildings around the route that Alice was known to have taken on the day she was last seen. They have searched 25sq km of open land and 5.5km of canals and rivers.
Arnis Zalkalns
Detective Superintendent Carl Mehta, said: "Our thoughts continue to go out to Alice's family as our search continues in a bid to find her.
"I would like to thank the local community who have shown great support to the search effort and police investigation so far. Our officers are working through the weekend - carrying on those searches. We will not stop our hunt for Alice.
"Whilst we have already seized many hundreds of hours of CCTV we still need the public's help. If you are a shop owner, have CCTV at your home, or were out filming in the areas of Ealing and Hanwell and have footage from the afternoon of Thursday 28 August when Alice was last seen, and right up to the 3 September when Arnis Zalkalns was last seen, then please get in touch with us. Save the footage, call into our incident room on 020 8358 0100, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111."
On Friday police search a property on Boston Manor Road which Arnis Zalkalns had formally resided in. They took away a black mountain bike and have also said they are no longer looking for the red bike which they had previously made an appeal to find.
Earlier in the week police searched his current home where he lives with his partner and their young child.
A reward of up to £20,000 is being offered for anyone who has information relating to this case.
Detectives now know that on Thursday, 28 August - the day that Alice disappeared - Arnis Zalkalns was seen on CCTV cycling along Brentford Lock at 4pm, some fifteen minutes after Alice walked that route at 3.45pm.
Detectives believe he is likely to have come across Alice as they were both going in the same direction, north along the canal towpath.
What, if anything, happened there is now one of the focuses of this investigation. Since Arnis Zalkalns was last seen at his home in Ealing on the evening of Wednesday, 3 September he has not accessed his bank account or used his mobile phone. His passport was left at his house.
Arnis Zalkalns had been working as a labourer on a building site in Isleworth prior to his disappearance.
Alice is white, 5 ft 2 ins tall and of very slim build with shoulder-length, light brown hair. When she left home that day she was wearing dark blue jeans and a grey top, and tartan framed glasses.
She was carrying a dark rucksack, and wearing denim blue 'Vans' shoes, these shoes were in her rucksack when it was found by police on 2 September. Arnis Zalkalns is white, 5ft 10ins, stocky build with dark brown hair, that he normally wears tied in a pony tail. He normally cycles to work, and rides a red Trek Mountain Bike and a racing bike.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact the investigation team on 020 8358 0100, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. .
September 20, 2014
