EastEnders’ Elaine Knight and Kojo Asare fear for their lives next week, when a gang of thugs encircle them at The Arches.

As Elaine is savagely thrown to the ground, can the pair find a way to break free?

When Elaine makes a trip to visit Kojo at his place of work, she finds him fenced in by a group of menacing men – who waste no time at all in getting her off their back…

“Elaine is brutally shoved to the floor,” our EastEnders insider explains. “She visits The Arches in the first place because she becomes aware that George is worried by the fact that Okie has bought Kojo an expensive watch.

“George doesn’t want to be seen as an overbearing brother, so Elaine steps up and suggests that she susses out what’s going on. And that offer leads her into the hands of those nasty criminals…”

Helpless, Kojo and Elaine feel terrified as it dawns on them that there’s nowhere for them to run. But luckily, Okie turns up in the nick of time and spooks the gangsters into running away.

Later, Kojo and Elaine regale George and Harry with their terrifying tale, not forgetting to mention that Okie saved their skin.

“Elaine and Kojo see Okie as their hero,” shares our source. “In fact, Kojo feels so appreciative of Okie that he trusts him with the key to his flat. Little does he know that he’s just made it easier than ever for Okie to peddle drugs from his apartment…”

This comes after Harry finds out that Okie and Ravi are using Kojo’s flat to conduct their illegal activities and tries to intervene on the sly.

But Ravi makes the mechanic’s life even more complicated when he demands that Harry and Okie up their game.

“Ravi’s iron grip won’t let up,” teases our Walford spy. “He finds out that he has serious tax problems and takes it out on Harry and Okie. As much as Harry wants to protect himself and Kojo, it doesn’t look as if his ordeal will be ending anytime soon…”

How far will Kojo be pulled into the murky world of drug dealing?