A group of squatters linked to a car theft ring returned to the Washington state property they illegally colonized during the pandemic last week after they were removed by a SWAT team.
Some 30 officers took in the Wednesday raid of the Lynnwood, Wash., home and found drugs and guns on the property, along with 52 cars – some of them stolen, according to KIRO 7 News.
Five people were arrested after cops corralled a group of squatters who had been living there in “unhealthy and unstable conditions” in the “short term and long term” and had “no ownership” of the home, according to police.
The owner and neighbors reportedly said the “criminals” had been illegally living on the property since the state and federal government placed a moratorium on evictions as COVID-19 first spread across the country.
“They took over the house and we couldn’t collect a dollar of rent, and have a mortgage,” Laleh Kashani, the owner of the property, told the outlet.
