Categories: World

High life: Alleged drug dealer hides from cop in plain sight in surreal photo

close Video

Marijuana’s legalization isn’t going as planned.

Illegal pot was supposed to go away. It hasn’t.  

An incredible image distributed by British prosecutors captures a moment of embarrassment as a police officer fails to catch a criminal less than a foot away from him.

Etmond Lika, 32, was wanted by police in connection to the production of cannabis, a controlled Class B drug in the United Kingdom. 

But police had a tricky time catching him, with the photo showing an officer searching outside a skylight in Liverpool while Lika lay on the roof just above the officer’s head. 

Local police did eventually capture him, and he was prosecuted for his crimes. The court sentenced Lika for two years and four months, the Crown Prosecution Service told Fox News Digital. 

PRINCE HARRY’S PAST DRUG USE REVELATIONS WON’T AFFECT US VISA, BUT HE ‘SHOULD ALWAYS BE CAREFUL’: EXPERTS

British police have a habit of allowing their blunders to end up as headlines, such as the 2017 case in which police in Cumbria found a suspicious vehicle outside their department and had the bomb squad blow it up.

Merseyside police failed to notice suspect Etmond Lika, 32, merely a foot away on the rooftops during a search.  (Crown Prosecution Service)

The officers soon learned that the car belonged to a man who had fallen ill and gone to hospital, and police had parked his car outside their offices for safekeeping – but had forgotten to tell the rest of the squad, the BBC reported. 

SCOTLAND ELECTS FIRST MUSLIM LEADER, HUMZA YOUSAF, DESCENDANT OF PAKISTANI IMMIGRANTS

Another explosive incident for the police occurred when a police squad donated knives collected in a nationwide cleanup to an artist to create a “knife angel” sculpture, but accidentally included two bags of explosives in the donation.

Close-up of Etmond Lika hiding above a police officer as Merseyside police search for him. (Crown Prosecution Service )

The force responsible for the blunder never identified itself. 

UK SCIENTISTS FIND ONE OF THE LARGEST BLACK HOLES EVER DISCOVERED

Police force errors extended even to investigations and procedures, such as when Scottish police executed the wrong warrant, seeking out a drug dealer on suspicion of having an offensive weapon when they meant to arrest him on suspicion of intent to supply heroin and “street valium.” 

The suspect went free on the drug charges, though he did face trial for breaching conditions of bail, the Greenock Telegraph reported. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

And Cambridgeshire police once spent considerable time and effort searching for a 57-year-old Lithuanian man by the name of Vytautas Jokubauskas, only to realize they had used the photo for a 50-year-old Vytautas Jokubauskus who had never set foot in the U.K. 

Peter Aitken is a Fox News Digital reporter with a focus on national and global news. 

Share

Recent Posts

Nancy Pelosi urges senators to oppose key spending bill, risking shutdown

House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and several key Democrats are urging Senate Democrats to…

47 minutes ago

Dr. Oz bats back Democratic attempts to paint him as a ‘snake oil’ salesman in Senate hearing

Dr. Mehmet Oz was slammed by his detractors during a Senate confirmation hearing Friday on…

47 minutes ago

Sununu says ‘door is not closed’ on ’26 Senate run in battleground New Hampshire: ‘I would win’

NEWFIELDS, N.H. – Former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu is keeping the door open to…

47 minutes ago

DOD closes think tank arm marred by ‘inefficiency’ and criticized by GOP for ties to Trump-Russia probe

The Department of Defense has dissolved its Office of Net Acquisition – a think tank-like…

47 minutes ago

‘We have never been this close to peace’ since Russia invaded Ukraine, Leavitt tells reporters

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Friday that "we have never been…

47 minutes ago

Israel faces new Syria challenge as it adjusts to new strategy amid regional power struggle for influence

close Video IDF Chief Eyal Zamir assesses situation in area of separation in Syria For…

3 hours ago