A tense scene from last night’s Police: Suspect No.1 last night on Channel 5 showed police officers raiding a warehouse filled with marijuana.
The footage, which was captured on officers’ bodycams, showed officers in anti-riot gear breaking into the premises in Norfolk where they were faced with a huge crop of plants waiting to be harvested.
Last night’s episode followed the team as they tried to untangle the lies of nine men arrested on site during the raid, including one who claimed he was only 15-years-old and had been forced to work there.
Viewers were shocked by the set up, with once joking the ‘electrician must have been working overtime’.
Footage from a police raid in Norfolk, filmed from a police officer’s bodycam was shared on last night’s Police: Suspect No.1 on Channel 5
The team were led to the warehouse after receiving a tip off about a possible drugs operation.
The officers were fully prepared and equipped to deal with an armed organised crime group, or OCG, and were wearing protective helmet, jackets and were carrying shields.
After sawing off the steel fence at the entrance of the industrial estate, the team breaks the building’s door and storms in, looking for the criminals.
The first thing they found was a large room filled with hundreds of cannabis plants, with a street value of £500,000.
The team looked at the cannabis crop in the warehouse. We learned in the programme that the street value of the crop was £500,000
The sight was impressive to some viewers, who were shocked at how big the crop of cannabis was.
‘This is some set up,’ one wrote.
‘How long did it take to set that up? The electrician must have been working over time,’ said another.
After searching the property for suspected criminals that could be hiding out, the team found and arrested 11 men and took them in to be questioned.
The team explained that they would have to untangle the truth from the lies during individual interviews with each man, some of whom did not speak English.
‘It’s very difficult for us to determine who sits where it that hierarchy,’ said DI Chris Burgess.
‘We are lied to frequently but I think we have to sometimes consider the reason for that lie.
Officers arrived in protective gear and shields, prepared to the eventually of facing off an armed organised crime group
The team had to collect evidence of the criminal activity taking place in the warehouse. Nine men were arrested on site
‘Is somebody trying to belittle their part in the crime? Is someone lying to us because they’re scared if they tell us the truth,’ he added.
‘Differentiating the truth from the lies is crucial.’
A Vietnamese man that had been arrested during the raid claimed he was actually 15-years-old and had been trafficked from his country to England.
The man claimed he did not speak English and was scared into working for the drug gang, too scared to try to escape.
Another man tried for the same defense, saying he had been forced to work at the warehouse, and had been locked in by the gang.
Viewers were shocked by the large cannabis plant that was found in the warehouse during the raid
However, during the episode, we learned that the man who claimed he was 15 had wisdom teeth, hinting he was definitely older than what he had advanced.
Wisdom teeth usually appear in a person’s late teens or early 20s.
The other man’s account was also disproved when he changed his tune and pleaded guilty.
Other men that had been arrested at the warehouse refused to comment, maintaining a wall of silence in front of the authorities, replying with just ‘no comment.’
Police: Suspect No.1 is available on My5.