lequebecfume
07-12-2009, 06:56 AM
Police apologise for raiding lecturer's home
Published Date: 12 July 2009
Police have issued a full apology after a university lecturer's Newcastle home was mistakenly raided in a bungled drugs search.
Doctor Ike Ogbar, a senior lecturer in marketing at Northumbria University, was handcuffed after police in helmets and riot clothing smashed their way into his home with a battering ram.
The 35-year-old, originally from Nigeria, saw his wife and three children rounded up in their home on Weidner Road, in the Benwell area of the city, by officers who had been told the family were part of a Vietnamese drugs ring.
Northumbria Police's Assistant Chief Constable Paul Beasley said he apologised "unreservedly" for the mistake, adding that his officers had acted "with the best of intentions".
"As part of a synchronised series of raids to tackle the problem of cannabis farms, and based on intelligence received, we executed a search warrant," he said. "Unfortunately it appears that on this occasion the intelligence we had received was incorrect and the family have no connection whatsoever with this police operation.
"We have already apologised to them in person and are doing everything we can to address what was a genuine mistake made by officers acting with the best of intentions."
Dr Ogbar told the Journal, a newspaper in Newcastle, he was "furious" at the way police carried out the raid.
"How can these men burst into my home and herd my family around?" he asked. "I want to know exact details on how this error happened, how did they target my house and who told them to search it?
"I have lived in this community happily for eight years, my neighbours and my friends and everyone who knows us is outraged by what they put us through."
The botched raid was part of an operation by the Force against a network of cannabis farms in the city, police said. The operation resulted in 28 arrests and saw more than 9,000 cannabis plants with an annual street value of more than £4 million, recovered.
http://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/latest-north-east-news/Police-apologise-for-raiding-lecturer39s.5451718.jp
Published Date: 12 July 2009
Police have issued a full apology after a university lecturer's Newcastle home was mistakenly raided in a bungled drugs search.
Doctor Ike Ogbar, a senior lecturer in marketing at Northumbria University, was handcuffed after police in helmets and riot clothing smashed their way into his home with a battering ram.
The 35-year-old, originally from Nigeria, saw his wife and three children rounded up in their home on Weidner Road, in the Benwell area of the city, by officers who had been told the family were part of a Vietnamese drugs ring.
Northumbria Police's Assistant Chief Constable Paul Beasley said he apologised "unreservedly" for the mistake, adding that his officers had acted "with the best of intentions".
"As part of a synchronised series of raids to tackle the problem of cannabis farms, and based on intelligence received, we executed a search warrant," he said. "Unfortunately it appears that on this occasion the intelligence we had received was incorrect and the family have no connection whatsoever with this police operation.
"We have already apologised to them in person and are doing everything we can to address what was a genuine mistake made by officers acting with the best of intentions."
Dr Ogbar told the Journal, a newspaper in Newcastle, he was "furious" at the way police carried out the raid.
"How can these men burst into my home and herd my family around?" he asked. "I want to know exact details on how this error happened, how did they target my house and who told them to search it?
"I have lived in this community happily for eight years, my neighbours and my friends and everyone who knows us is outraged by what they put us through."
The botched raid was part of an operation by the Force against a network of cannabis farms in the city, police said. The operation resulted in 28 arrests and saw more than 9,000 cannabis plants with an annual street value of more than £4 million, recovered.
http://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/latest-north-east-news/Police-apologise-for-raiding-lecturer39s.5451718.jp