Police Bodycam Captures Raid On Drug Factory In Tiny Property

This police bodycam footage captures the interior of a cannabis factory in a residential house – complete with a hemp-themed DUVET cover.

The property was one of six targeted in dawn raids by a team of 50 officers which uncovered £750,000 of drugs.

GoPro footage from a camera strapped to an officer shows police smashing down the door of a maisonette before searching four rooms inside.

Towering cannabis plants can be seen among huge ventilation shafts – and even the duvet was covered with a cannabis plant pattern.

The address in Gloucester was raided just before 8.35am on Thursday and the footage shows a man in an orange shirt being arrested.

Nine other people were arrested at 11 addresses across the county in a co-ordinated series of raids named Operation Clevedon.

The body-worn camera footage showed police shouting “get back” as they repeatedly smashed a battering ram against the front door for almost a minute, before finally breaking through.

The officer searching the property found four rooms filled with cannabis plants, lights, loose wires and an extraction system.

In a running commentary, he describes “a very strong smell of cannabis emanating from the property”, as he discovers dozens of black bin bags filled with “vegetable matter”.

The plants filling four of the rooms of the small property were at different stages of growth, with some towering high. Soil was banked high at the side of one room.

The operation was intended to Albanian gangs, slavery and cannabis factories across Gloucestershire.

Four addresses were raided in Gloucester, as well as two in Tredworth, and other raids in Cheltenham, Hucclecote, Hempsted and Longford.

Four people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply Class B drugs, and six people were arrested on suspicion of the same offence at cannabis factories.

Detective Inspector Ian Fletcher said: “I’m very pleased with the success of this two day operation.

“The raids have resulted in the disruption of serious organised crime gangs operating in Gloucestershire, whose criminal activity has had a detrimental impact on our communities.

“It’s believed that the cannabis cultivated at these properties is valued at around £750,000.

“One of the cannabis farms was located directly opposite a primary school in Gloucester.

“These gang members have no regard for the safety and well-being of those living in the communities in which they are operating.”

Eight of the men were from Gloucester and aged between 20 and 33. The other two were a 21-year-old man from Norwich and a 34-year-old man from Essex.