They boasted about the £300,000 capture in a blaze of publicity and posed for photos with some of the 1,000 plants in the haul.
However, while police were relishing the moment at the front of the drugs factory, thieves were busy at the back.
They broke in and started stuffing the cannabis into black bin bags to be loaded into a waiting van.
A neighbour, who was clearly somewhat more vigilant than the officers on the scene, noticed what was happening and raised the alarm.
But, by then, an estimated £15,000 of cannabis plants had been stolen.
Whoops!
To guard the seizure until they arrived, two Police Community Support Officers were told to keep watch at the front of the building.
But the rear of the old nightclub was left unguarded, leaving the thieves free to break in and grab a van full of the plants.
Yesterday South Wales Police said it had started an internal investigation into the blunder to find out if ‘scene preservation protocols’ were followed.
If they
were, then I'd suggest they need looking at just as hard...
12 comments:
"Well, see, boyo .. its like this, look you" ..
A little harsh on the capacity of chocolate teapots to cope with iced tea, Julia.
Overlooking the plain stupidity and discounting the jaded scene preservation protocol and turning a blind eye to the incompetence......I think police have a claim to one job well done.
I am a copper and, though I never thought I'd say this, I'm with Melvyn on this but I don't blame the police (except maybe ACPO who should have said "no" to PCSOs) but I blame Blunkett for saddling us with thousands uf almost completly untrained and unfit for "the job" wannabes. I have not yet been involved in a single crime scene where their contribution was anything other than negative.
"Me an' PCSO Williams,357 .. thought they said we 'ad to guard a can o' piss .. not Cannabis" ..
Seems a hell of a lot of partying is coming up.
I do admire the determination of such enterprising criminals. That's the spirit we need more of.
Plus, I like an occasional toke myself, so it's always good news when prohibition hits a setback.
Bet the crims wouldn't have got away with any .. had the PCSO's been guarding sheep ...
I thought that PCSOs were employed to be out on visible 'reassurance' patrol rather than for jobs like this.
I would imagine that most are not trained for this kind of thing
There's wicked for you, isn't it?
An O/T piece about one of your rellies, if you're interested, Julia.
" I have not yet been involved in a single crime scene where their contribution was anything other than negative."
That's a worry!
"Seems a hell of a lot of partying is coming up."
Heh! Indeed...
"I thought that PCSOs were employed to be out on visible 'reassurance' patrol rather than for jobs like this."
With the short-handedness that Gadget's blog is always mentioning, it's not surprising that they are being used to fill gaps.
I wonder what other gaps they're filling?
"An O/T piece about one of your rellies, if you're interested, Julia."
Oooh, I am! Cheers for that :)
Seems that everyone involved has been watching too many Carry On films, what a corny plot.
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