Luxury guinea pig pen mistaken for cannabis farm (war on some drugs strikes again)

[The Straight Story]

Luxury guinea pig pen mistaken for cannabis farm
Police mounted a raid on a suspected cannabis farm – only to find a garage housing two guinea pigs.

The squad rushed in after a force helicopter picked up a ‘hotspot’ on Pam Hardcastle’s property, thinking it betrayed a lighting system used to grow the drug.

But all they found was a heater for Simon and Kenny, the pets of Ms Hardcastle’s ten-year-old son, Jack.

‘When I opened it up and they saw the guinea pigs, they didn’t say anything,’ said the 42-year-old primary school worker.

‘They were in the garage two seconds and they left.’

The six officers arrived with a battering ram and cut off the lock of a neighbour’s gate to get to the home in Bradford. They even went to Jack’s school looking for his mother, who was at work.


Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/852422-luxury-guinea-pig-pen-mistaken-for-cannabis-farm#ixzz1ApFmpS5q

[Fumesucker]

1. Glad we still have enough money to pay for helicopters flying around looking for '"too warm" houses.

Clearly there are no other budget items that have any greater priority than stopping the growing of the evil weed.

ETA: I just realized this happened in the UK..

I can't imagine why I thought something this stupid would happen in the land of the free, I guess I'm just paranoid.

[Tesha]

3. No matter about your mislocation; it's happening here as well. (NT)

[Fumesucker]

5. I should have clued in to the location much more quickly..

One dead giveaway that it didn't happen in the land of the free was that no one's dog was shot.

[newfie11]

6. VERY TRUE! n/t

[drm604]

2. Fortunately no one was injured during this,

but there's always that possibility during something like this.

I don't know the legal standard in Great Britain but I would hope that a warrant was required for this. Even so, can it really be acceptable that a space heater is enough to justify a search warrant? Can it really be acceptable that a space heater is enough to justify a battering ram?

I wonder who pays for the damage. They damaged the properties of two completely innocent parties.

[Occulus]

13. Oh! This was in the UK.

So that's why nobody's pets were shot...

[hobbit709]

4. This comment by the police

‘I would like to apologise for the distress may have caused,’ said Insp Darren Brown.

‘However, I would point out that these tactics are essential in tackling drugs.’

And we all know how well these tactics are working.

[Lucinda]

7. And on the same page... Korean man marries pillow

Good morning DU. :)

down in the "weird Files" section:
http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/816601-man-marries-pillow

[xchrom]

8. i wonder what the price tag was for that little fiasco? nt

[Tesha]

9. No price is too high to pay for preventing people from getting high. (NT)

[xchrom]

11. or busting guinea pigs. nt

[mikelgb]

10. I thought for sure the article was going to say they shot the guinea pigs

but alas the uk

[yellowcanine]

12. Maybe the police thought they were secretly planning to eat the guinea pigs?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/19/world/main650148.shtml

I thought the battering ram and cutting off the neighbor's lock were nice touches.

[Gold Metal Flake]

14. She is damn luckey she was not killed.

Like Donald P. Scott.

http://www.geoffmetcalf.com/scott_20010731.html

In brief:
61-year-old reclusive millionaire Donald P. Scott of Malibu had a ranch that the Los Angeles County Sherrif's Department wanted to seize and forfeit for the local government. They messed up, though, and didn't plant the drugs that they'd intended to plant and upon which the search warrant was based. In October of 1992, a 32-man assault team raided his ranch and shot him dead in front of his wife. No drugs, not even the ones that were supposed to have been planted as phony evidence, were found.

A later official report found: "It is the District Attorney's opinion that the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department was motivated, at least in part, by a desire to seize and forfeit the ranch for the government. Based in part upon the possibility of forfeiture, Spencer obtained a search warrant that was not supported by probable cause. This search warrant became Donald Scott's death warrant."