A policeman has been injured in a raid on a suspected illicit drugs ‘factory’ in London’s East End.
The officer was taken by ambulance to hospital after he was said to have been attacked during an operation “to uncover a cannabis factory” hidden at Dorrington Point tower block in Bromley-by-Bow.
Police were called to the 12-storey block in Bromley high Street, off Bow Road, at 11.30pm on Saturday following reports of drugs at the premises.
Officers who discovered a ‘factory’ set up inside a flat in the high-rise block said that a 42-year-old man returned to the building during the police operation, then attempted to flee when seeing them.
One of the officers tried to stop him getting away, but was attacked and punched repeatedly, Scotland Yard said today.
Other officers ran to help him and arrested a man on suspicion of GBH and drugs offences who was then detained for questioning.
“The man involved didn’t hesitate to attack police,” Det Sgt Mike Baines from Tower Hamlets CID claimed. “This is an example of officers putting themselves in harm’s way to catch and detain violent suspects.”
The injured officer was later treated in hospital for multiple injuries to the head and swellings.
Several suspected cannabis plants were recovered from the flat in Saturday’s raid. Police investigations are continuing.
Dorrington Point, on Tower Hamlets’ Bow Bridge housing estate, was the scene of an explosion in a fifth floor flat three years ago when illegally-stored oil caught fire.
Three people had to be rescued and hundreds more evacuated after the blast shattered windows and doors, causing a blaze which cut the mains power to the building.
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