Neighbours who lived near a cannabis farm said they thought it was being turned into flats months before a police raid.
Merseyside Police raided a house in the Rice Lane area on Monday (October 17) following a tip off it was the site of a large scale cannabis farm. Footage captured by the ECHO showed officers smash through the front door of the terraced house before arresting a 28-year-old Albanian man.
Around 400 plants over four rooms of the house were uncovered by officers during the early morning raid. The warrant was carried out as part of Operation Crossbow - a multi-force day of action involving more than 200 officers from Merseyside Police, Cheshire Constabulary and British Transport Police in a bid to tackle serious and organised crime.
READ MORE: Curtis Warren 'banned from WhatsApp' when released from prison next month
A number of officers entered the house through the front door after it was smashed off its hinges. Shouts of "police with a warrant" echoed around the street as they burst in and detained a man near the back of the property.
A police drone hovered over the street and two officers waited in the alleyway behind the property. Neighbours, woken to the noise of the raid, watched from their front doors and windows.
Merseyside Police today confirmed Elligert Latollari, 28, of no fixed address was charged with cannabis cultivation. He was remanded into custody at Wirral Magistrates Court this morning.
Valdas Baksys, 38, of Pearson Street, Liverpool, and Gintaras Bakunas, 28, of no fixed abode, were also charged and have been remanded into custody at Wirral Magistrates Court.
One man, who lived near the raided house, told the ECHO not many people on the street knew who lived at the address so were "shocked" when they saw the raid. The neighbour, who did not want to be named, said he never saw anyone else at the flats except when "work" was being done on the house.
He added: "We saw lots of stuff going in and lots of work being done on the electrical box on the outside of the bay window.
"The house was in a pretty bad state of repair before he moved in so we didn't really question it. We thought the house was being turned into flats."
Police remained at the road until around 2pm yesterday, according to the neighbour. He told the ECHO : "They were bringing out all the lamps and lots of bin bags which I suspect had the plants in. The power was shut off around 11am which then resulted in the smell of the plants taking over the road.
"I work from home and ran out and got three air fresheners and used all of them. We had family around in the evening and the smell was still overbearing to them."
READ NEXT:
Schoolgirl screams 'I can't breathe' as she's kicked and choked in sickening attack
Toby Carvery customer's worst fears 'confirmed' after ringing friend
Murderer Emma Walsh was 'controlling', 'jealous' and made boyfriend's life a 'misery'
Schoolgirl's devastating diagnosis after playground game goes wrong
Thousands of PIP claimants can expect a new DWP decision this winter
