Metropolitan Police officers in tactical gear forced their way into a top-floor apartment in London at about 04:00 BST, in a dawn raid on a property where cannabis was being supplied.[1] The officers secured the occupants and searched the flat, where they found cannabis, weapons and a substantial amount of cash.[1] One man was arrested on suspicion of possession of Class B drugs with intent to supply.[1]
The other five or six people in the apartment were treated as potential victims of cuckooing rather than as suspects.[1] Cuckooing is the practice of drug dealers taking over the home of a vulnerable person and using it as a base for their operations.[1] Detective Superintendent Kirsty Mead said cuckooing is when an organised criminal network takes over a vulnerable person and uses their home to stash and traffic drugs across London or out into other areas.[1] Inspector Niall McParland said the officers’ task was to get in, secure everyone and then calm the situation down, removing any handcuffs as soon as possible.[1]
Freedom of Information figures from the Metropolitan Police showed cuckooing cases recorded by the force rising from 42 in 2018-19 to 60 in 2022-23, with almost half the victims in the most recent year having some form of disability.[1] The raid was reported alongside the BBC’s investigation into cannabis farms set up in the homes of unsuspecting London landlords, and Steve Rolles of the Transform Drug Policy Foundation told the BBC that raiding individual properties was not shutting down the illegal market.[1]
