This is the moment police officers bust a shisha lounge with hundreds of people crammed inside.

Staff at Kasablanca Shisha Lounge in Birmingham can be seen trying to close the shutters on officers as they arrived at the premises.

The nightspot also turned their music off and told customers to be quiet in a bizarre bid to avoid detection.

Once inside, officers found 250 people displaying ‘no regard’ to the lockdown rules on social distancing.

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An officer can be heard in the footage telling the owner: ‘Shutting the shutters to turn the music off makes no difference, we’ve got it all on camera.

‘Every person here should be wearing a mask. You are working behind here. You have a duty to ensure people in here are following the guidelines.

‘People should not be in groups at the till. As soon as whoever controls the shutters have seen the police they’ve shut the shutters.

‘I’ve then stood at that door and heard them turn the music down and tell everyone to be quiet. I can hear it through the door, I’m not stupid.’

An investigation was launched and its owner was fined £10,000 for flouting Covid-19 restrictions.

It was the second venue in the West Midlands to be hit with a massive fine this weekend after police rumbled an illegal rave in Walsall.

It was discovered by officers out on patrol in a unit on Phoenix Business Park in Stafford Street.

Officers tried to enter to see what was happening as the shutters were slammed in their faces.

Shortly after a number of people attempted to leave but found the gates locked, some even tried to jump the fence in an effort to get away.

Officers pleaded to the person with the keys to open the gates, which they eventually did, and around 100 people left.

Music equipment and food and drinks were found inside the unit.

Superintendent Rich Harris said: ‘This was a really busy weekend for us with people continuing to flout the rules across the force.

‘We are still following our four ‘e’s approach, however we will enforce these fines when it is obviously people are so blatantly ignoring the restrictions.

‘Businesses have a responsibility not only to their customers and their staff but to the wider community and there must be consequences when Covid-19 guidance is simply ignored.

‘Everyone has a part to play in reducing the spread of coronavirus, and no one is above the law when it comes to that.

‘We understand that some of the regulations are confusing and we will be explaining where we find breaches, but if people continually flout these measures, we will not hesitate to take action.’

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