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Thursday, 18th March 2010

VIDEO: Tractor tears down wall in Lancing drugs raid

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Footage of the police raid and aftermath
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Published Date: 12 October 2007
POLICE officers used a tractor to pull down a wall before storming Lancing's suspected cannabis café.
The carefully orchestrated raid saw scores of officers at the site, off Freshbrook Road, Lancing, during the afternoon of Thursday, October 11.

They smashed a window at the reinforced building before chaining its metal bars to a tractor.

But instead of just pulling the window from the building, a large part of the wall came crashing to the ground.

It was yesterday unclear how many people were inside the building, although Chief Inspector Lawrence Hobbs, Adur police district commander, said he hoped to release information soon.

Click here to view our slideshow gallery of photographs of the raid and the aftermath.

The site was previously raided in July, and Ch Insp Hobbs said the second raid was part of an operation designed to build up a case to present to the Crown Prosecution Service.

He added: "What we have done here is a clear signal to the local community and the neighbours that we are not going to tolerate this open-air drug dealing taking place in a residential area."

• The Herald was again at the fore with its local news coverage and attended the raid with police.

Click the green Play button to watch video footage of Thursday's events and police comment on the raid.

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  • Last Updated: 05 November 2008 12:47 PM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Worthing
 
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AlunBFree,

Norfolk 12/10/2007 10:36:08
This all sounds very strange to me: "The carefully orchestrated raid ..... They smashed a window at the reinforced building before chaining its metal bars to a tractor. ....But instead of just pulling the window from the building, a large part of the wall came crashing to the ground. .... It was yesterday unclear how many people were inside the building .... The Herald was again at the fore with its local news coverage and attended the raid with police". Sounds uinnecessarily heavy and quite a dangerous carefully orchestrated and pointless stunt meant to drive the dealers back on to the streets.
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i smell bacon,

in a hole 12/10/2007 15:14:02
the raid was about as carefully orchestrated as a first year school trip. dangerous and pointless. people could have got hurt and why on earth do they go to all this money time and effort to stop a social cafe. (sorry officer for havin a coffe!!!)
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Dawn P,

UK 12/10/2007 17:49:49
OMG: It looks more like a scene of an attempted terrorist attack. These people were only using a bit of cannabis inside the premises not making bombs for god sake!!! Why take such drastic action which could have been fatal to those inside by using a tractor to knock down the wall, when there was a door? Can someone remind me what country we live in? As i never thought any UK police force could be so brutal and take such drastic action over something so minor!!!.
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Lumpy,

lancing 13/10/2007 08:31:45
I was one of the people inside this building when it was raided. One moment we are drinking coffee and chatting and the next the whole wall fell down. We were all scred out of our wits. One person was hurt by glass and another lady had an asthma attack due to the panic and debris in the air. I asked the police to assist her and was basically told to shut up. We were treated like terrorists. As far as i know this huge expense and danger allowed the plice to seize the grand total of a couple of grams of herbal cannabis, That is not even enough to arrest someone for, The police were incompetant and risked out lives in what ammounts to a political stunt as it surely cant be argued that money from these raids (hudreds of thousands) would be better spent on more serious and dangerous crimes. We have pedofiles wandering round our communities yet public money ws spent on this.... i am disgusted.
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Jo M,

Worthing 13/10/2007 09:33:34
Laws are there for a reason and if people try to break them they should expect to be caught. Whether they are or not is a different matter but best to always expect it. If I drive through a speed camera too fast and get flashed I don't moan about it because I knew what I was doing! As for the lady with asthma that Lumpy mentions, well she's living proof that drugs addle your brain because anyone with asthma must be brain dead to sit in an enclosed space with smoke in the air. What a bunch of whingey wimps, do it in your own home if you don't want to be caught! Basic common sense that those lot clearly lack.
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Lumpy,

lancing 13/10/2007 11:06:07
Sure i understand the law and i am not complaining about getting caught (not that i was) but i am suggesting it is over the top to pull the wall of a building down to catch a few people smoking pot (if they were). Also the building is fully air conditioned and all air is carbon filtered so please do not insult the intelligence of the asthmatic lady before you know all the facts. Getting flashed by a speed camera and having a building collapse on you are two very different things.
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bookworm,

mars 13/10/2007 16:09:03
Well said Lumpy, couldn't have put it better myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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The prince,

lancing 15/10/2007 01:24:04
So they spend a large amount of tax payers money on a operation of which at the end they find a couple of grams of cannabis, good luck in crown court, iam sure it'll hold up. one word describes the whole operation and Ch Insp Hobbs, laughable. p.s Lumpy for P.M
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i smell bacon,

a hole 15/10/2007 14:34:26
Lumpy 4 P.M the smartest thing thats come out this stupid raid. CBG 4 life:)
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differentname,

London 16/10/2007 09:45:29
Bulldozing houses with people still inside is a favourite tactic of the Isreali Army in the West Bank and Gaza. So now the ridiculous "war on drugs" in the UK has reached the level of barbarity of that hopeless, never-ending conflict. The Police who did this should be prosecuted for attempted murder.
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