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Sgt Chris Walsh with bags of drugs found inside the Firm Cut shop |
DRUGS LAB AT BARBER SHOP
Police uncover Class A substance production in raid on hair salon
POLICE have uncovered what is believed to be the first synthetic drugs laboratory found operating in Islington – hidden in the back of a barber shop.
The Tribune accompanied around 30 officers as they raided Firm Cut on Seven Sisters Road, taking just 90 seconds to saw through a steel wall to uncover what is believed to be a cannabis supply shop and Class A drugs factory. From the outside, the premises looks like a hair salon, complete with swivel chairs, mirrors, hair gel and a blackboard, but according to police no one has had their hair cut there for a long time.
Officers from Tollington and Finsbury Park Safer Neighbourhoods teams raided the premises on Wednesday, with the help of Territorial Support Group (TSG) officers after neighbours complained it was being used as a cannabis shop.
They discovered vials of chemicals and equipment, believed to be part of a class A synthetic drugs factory.
The shop and neighbouring properties were immediately evacuated and part of the street cordoned off amid fears the chemicals could be hazardous.
All officers were immediately ordered to remove their outer clothes and take showers to decontaminate.
Officers in riot gear stormed the barber shop while rush-hour commuters looked on in shock.
The shop was empty, but officers drilled through the back wall to uncover a room containing a large quantity of bags of what is believed to be cannabis separated into £10 doses.
According to police, customers would come from all over London to buy cannabis from the shop, paying for the goods in multiples of £10 through a tiny hole in the shop’s metal wall.
No conversation would take place and a hand would appear to dish out the drugs.
But Sgt Chris Walsh, of Tollington and Finsbury Park SNT, said he had no idea the shop was also hiding what they say is a class A drugs factory.
He said: “We had no intelligence or information at all that this was going on.
“We went in solely because of complaints of anti-social behaviour and cannabis dealing. We thought it was purely class C drugs, something the Safer Neighbourhoods team could deal with.
“We only brought in the TSG because we knew the entry was so secure. We genuinely only thought this was to do with cannabis, but once the dust settled we realised this was something much bigger.
“In my 22 years as a police officer I’ve never come across a synthetic drugs laboratory.”
He added: “I’m astounded that we found this in Seven Sisters Road below several residential flats. There are absolutely no qualified hairdressers there. When you put your hand across the surfaces of the shop there was dust that hadn’t been disturbed for some time.”
Inspector John Frost, of Islington SNT, described the reinforced back room as a “fortress”.
A team of financial investigators is now scouring all correspondence to the address to try to track down the owners.
Detective Constable Alex Hargreaves, from Islington’s Financial Investigation Unit, said: “We’re trying to trace it back to who was bringing the merchandise in and taking the money out. We’re looking at who pays the taxes, who owns the building – there’s always a paper trail.”
He estimated the shops could have been taking upwards of £1,000 a day.
Earlier in the day officers also raided a boarded-up shop in Hornsey Road, yards from Holloway Police Station.
They found a small quantity of class A drugs believed to be crack cocaine and drug-related paraphernalia.
One man was arrested for possession of class A drugs.
Safer Neighbourhoods officers are now pursuing Drugs Closure Orders for both properties.
Islington Borough Commander Bob Carr said: “This operation has been a huge success, for the local Safer Neighbourhoods team who instigated it and the many officers who supported them. The closure of this laboratory has helped to prevent further dangerous synthetic Class A drugs contaminating the streets of London.”
• Two men have been arrested for the manufacture of Class A drugs at a shop in Seven Sisters Road. They remain in custody. One man was arrested for possession of class A drugs at a Hornsey Road shop. |
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