Cops’ raid on drinkers at the Covid Arms

POLICE found a lockdown-busting bar dubbed The Covid Arms when they carried out a raid on partygoers.

The astonished officers found the makeshift Covid Arms sign nailed to a wall outside the garage workshop in Dudley Port, West Mids.

Inside they discovered 13 drinkers who were in breach of the Covid-19 restrictions.

The garage owner was slapped with a £1,000 fine. And in footage from the raid an officer can be heard telling the drinkers: “Whether you believe it or not, Covid 19 exists. With all due respect you should know better.

“We’re all grown ups, we shouldn’t be doing it, simple as.”

In another raid on Saturday night around 150 people were filmed partying by a police drone using thermal imaging.

Some tried to flee over rooftops from the illegal nightclub after pelting police with glasses and bottles.

Officers raided the club, which boasted a bar, VIP area and DJ, near Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter.

Seventy of the revellers were fined £200 for flouting Covid rules and the DJ could face a £10,000 penalty.

Meanwhile, a group of 10 revellers who rented a flat for a massive “blowout” have been fined for flouting lockdown rules. Six men and four women who organised the illegal gathering were slapped the fines ranging between £200 and £10,000.

Cops busted the event after being called to an apartment in Greenhithe, Kent, at around 10pm on Saturday.

The coronavirus rule-breakers were among 64 who broke lockdown to meet friends in Kent over the weekend.

Kent’s Assistant Chief Constable Claire Nix said: “I would ask people to think carefully about their behaviour”