Whatever happened to knocking? Early Wednesday morning at a home in west London, police used a digger—yes, one of those big construction trucks—to smash through a perimeter wall, then proceeded to use sledgehammers and angle grinders to get into the house to search for drugs. They probably would’ve used a battering ram if they had one handy.

This was all part of a larger bust involving 500 officers who raided 30 homes and businesses in London, Surrey, Essex, Kent and Hertfordshire. In all, police arrested 22 people, seized 111 kilos of cocaine worth £5.5 million, and confiscated guns, cars and an undisclosed, though "large" quantity of cash.

This Londonista is new to town and unfamiliar with British search and seizure laws, but this sounds a bit extreme. I’m sure the neighbors would agree, as it was all going on at 5 a.m., and there was a helicopter overhead to only add to the noise. Still, they’re probably happy to be rid of the neighbourhood scoundrels.

The police are calling the raid a success and say it has struck a "huge blow" to the drug trafficking industry, according to the BBC, as the traffickers they targeted are suspected to be responsible for laundering £100 million in the past six months.

Image courtesy of bucklava’s Flickrstream