Republik shut down after another major drugs raid

Swarms of police stormed Republik last night in what is the third drugs raid in two weeks.

Punters weren’t allowed to leave until a full drugs search had been carried out, leading to the arrests of six members of staff.

The club, on the corner of Bold Street and Slater Street, was raided just after 12.30am following suspicions the club’s history of violent crime was linked to undercover drug supply.

The music was turned off and the bar closed as an influx of coppers waded in.

Policemen swarmed the dance floor

Everyone was slowly evacuated

Everyone in the club was ordered to leave immediately, and were scanned and sniffed by a police dog.

A hearing at the Magistrates’ court today revealed police officers found the drug supply to be “rife” in Republik, and arrested six people – all of whom were members of staff.

Policeman Sargent Hearty told the court the six arrested are “still in custody for conspiracy to supply class A drugs” and “there is clearly a public safety issue” in the venue.

19 cases of violent crime have occurred in the recent past at Republik, half of the crimes being committed by their own security staff.

Six of Republik’s employees have been arrested

When investigating undercover, police officers discovered that drug supply was also chiefly governed by club promoters and employees.

Second year Ankita Malik was at the scene at the time of last night’s raid, and was surprised the raid occurred in Republik.

She said: “You’d have thought that if they were going to do a drug raid they’d have gone to other, more obvious places.

“I’ve never seen so many policemen in my life, I thought it was a bit extreme.”

Second year Lauren Wilson agrees the number of police officers was surprising.

Policemen surrounded the area

She said: “It’s weird that loads of raids are suddenly happening around the same time.

“There were loads of policemen but only one sniffer dog, and we had to wait ages for it to come.”

Police have applied for a three month closure order, but this is pending until March 6 2015.

If successful, Republik will be the second club in Liverpool to be shut down for a significant amount of time, following the recent drugs raid in Garlands.