U.K. officers standing in street below have no problem spotting earthbound cannabis before collecting it.
Make it rain took on a whole new meaning when a U.K. man reportedly tossed a large amount of illegal cannabis from the window of his flat while patient police officers and bemused onlookers watched the clumsy evasion attempt from below.
According to Birmingham Mail, officers were closing in on the suspected dealer’s home when he apparently decided it was time to get rid of the evidence on Monday morning. Unfortunately, he was not discreet, and plenty of people witnessed the botched attempt.
Fittingly, the window is located above a store called Swag Emporium, with a tag line that possibly starts with “High Fashion,” though the grainy video does not display the full sign.Later in the video, four officers are seen on the street as two cops scramble to collect the fallen bud.
The person apparently taking the video says of the apartment dweller: “He threw a box straight out of the window,” as the video shows two officers, gloved and one with a broom, putting the weed into a clear bag.
Taking, carrying, making, selling, dealing or sharing drugs, including cannabis, is illegal throughout the U.K., the government reports. For a Class B drug like cannabis, possessing it can result in as long as five years in prison while supplying or producing it can spur a maximum 14-year sentence. Unlimited fines, or both prison time and these penalties, are also options for U.K. courts.
The video does not report how much cannabis was tossed, but Birmingham Mail reports the amount was worth thousands of pounds.
The publication reports a 34-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of possession with the intent to supply cannabis following the execution of an intelligence-led warrant.Inside the apartment, police reportedly found a crossbow, three imitation guns, about £6,000 ($10,200) in cash, 20 kilograms of cannabis, 24 weed plants and a large volume of suspected cannabis oil.
According to Yahoo! News, it is believed a plain-clothes officer tells the suspect: “You’re being filmed doing it, so this is pointless.”
Those commenting on the video post were less than charitable when it came to the accused’s escape plan. “If they [were] bright….they’d never catch them.”
Yahoo! News also cites one person writing: “Imagine having a drug den above a shop boasting about high fashion, lol.”
It’s not the first time a weed toss has turned into an epic fail in the U.K. In the fall of 2020, a 41-year-old man in Merseyside tried his frenzied best to pitch about five-dozen cannabis plants from his balcony before police arrived at his door. Unfortunately for him, yet again, the plants landed below the balcony and were easily seized by police.
There have also been many tosses from vehicles on both sides of the pond, including near Grimsby in the U.K. Another man even decided to jump from a window in a bid to evade police this summer following a raid in which officers found cannabis plants with an estimated street value of £61,000.