A woman says Albanian gangsters have left residents of the council estate where she resides living in constant fear.
The Hellbanianz gang are based on the Gascoigne Estate in Barking, with members often showing off their criminal exploits on social media.
To increase their notoriety, the east London gangsters will often show off with cars, cash and guns on Instagram.
Long-term resident Daisy O'Doherty says Hellbanianz members will deliberately behave in an intimidating manner in order to frighten locals.
The gang became notorious in 2017 after it began releasing rap videos bragging about the money they earned from drug dealing and other criminal activities.
MyLondon reports that several months back, O'Doherty was woken late at night by her dog barking – before things took an unpleasant turn.
"She was getting really nervous about two in the morning, my cats were getting scared as well, [at first] I just put it down to them being rescue [animals]," she said.
"I heard [noises] outside and opened my front door to a policeman with a gun and dogs.
“He was screaming at me to 'get in'. Red [laser] dots were pointing at me - I thought they were going to take me out.
“They had stormed the block, I've never seen anything like it in my whole life."
The Barking native later learned the raid was part of a police operation that aimed to disrupt a 'rent-a-gun' operation in south-east England.
Ten people were arrested for offences, including conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life and conspiracy to commit GBH with intent, for their role in an enterprise that loaned weapons to gangs for revenge attacks.
O'Doherty explained residents like her had learned to live beside Hellbanianz gang members.
"You just constantly hear people in their cars or pulling up or shouting things to each other, playing music or talking really loud. But it's done for a reason," she said.
"It's always worrying around here now, that's just how life is, there's so much intimidation going on.
“Especially as a white female living on my own in a council property. I'm a target, without doubt.
"There are not as many people that have lived here for a long time and because [there are plans for the whole estate to be] demolished. The [sense] of community isn't there anymore."
O'Doherty claims drug gangs on the estate have been targeting people with empty bedrooms to sell from.
She said the issue went beyond cuckooing - where vulnerable people's homes are used for criminal activity - and had been affecting people who wouldn't normally be targeted by gangs.
It's frightening for O'Doherty, who has lived on the estate for over two decades, because evidence of the violent threat these groups possess is clear to see, as she explained: "I found a knife round the back of my block.
“I tried not to look at it too much but it was big. I called the police who came round to collect it."
