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Video shows safe holding £27,000 being thrown from roof during drugs raid

A 23-year-old man has been arrested in Birmingham.

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Dramatic bodycam video shows a safe containing £27,000 being thrown from a house as police launched an early morning drugs raid.

The footage was shot by officers with West Midlands Police who were standing outside the address in Birmingham at about 6am on Monday.

In the footage, released by the force, a man is seen emerging from a loft skylight with the safe.

The object then slides down the tiles and through the guttering, before plunging over the edge to a flat roof below.

Dawn raid Birmingham
Police smashed their way in the front door during the dawn raid (West Midlands Police/PA)

Police guided fellow officers to the safe whose contents have been seized while inquiries continue.

A 23-year-old man was arrested at the house on suspicion of money-laundering following the incident in Serpentine Road, Harborne.

Officers had been carrying out a drugs warrant at the address after “community intelligence” linked it to a drugs gang, the force said.

Safe falling
The safe slides along the tiles before plunging on to a flat roof (West Midlands Police/PA)

Inspector Sharon Revitt, from the force’s gangs unit, said it would have to be proven that the cash in the safe had been “accrued legally and not through crime”.

She added that otherwise, police would look to permanently seize the cash using powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), and use it to help fund community projects or crime prevention schemes.

Ms Revitt added: “We really value information from the public in our fight against the scourge of drugs and associated crime: the information is always taken seriously and we’ll look to act to catch offenders and make communities safer.”

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