Gang ‘brought knives to gun fight’ in cannabis farm raid

GROUP ACCUSED OF AGGRAVATED BURGLARY ARMED WITH MACHETES

- By CALLUM CUDDEFORD

A CROYDON machete gang that “brought knives to a gun fight” got more than they bargained for during a raid on an Albanian cannabis farm, a court was told.

Seven men and one boy aged between 17 and 32 were armed with knives and machetes while wearing balaclavas and construction gloves when they faced off with gun-toting Balkan weed farmers, it is alleged.

At Croydon Crown Court on Wednesday, April 23, prosecutor Richard Job told jurors how the group assembled in the early hours of July 7 2023, then headed to the grow site at 110 Canterbury Road, in North Croydon.

After entering an outhouse, which contained a harvest worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, the group was met by opposition who tried to “scare them away”, the court heard.

“These eight defendants agreed to work together to burgle a cannabis farm. That's why they joined to be together in the early hours of the morning. They armed themselves with knives,” said Mr Job, adding: “Unfortunately for the defendants they discovered they had taken knives to a gun fight. One of the Albanian men had a gun which he fired at least once.”