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Man hands himself in after St Albans home raided by police

Police are negotiating with the occupants of a property at St Albans.

Police are negotiating with the occupants of a property at St Albans. Photo: Channel Nine/Twitter

A man who was allegedly armed and on the run after the discovery of a drug laboratory in Melbourne’s north-west on Monday has handed himself in to police.

Police allege a number of shots were fired at officers as they were trying to execute a warrant at a house on Levenia Street, St Albans as part of an operation targeting an international drug trafficking syndicate.

The house was cordoned off during a five-and-a-half hour stand-off, but it was eventually determined the man inside the home had fled.

Police Assistant Commissioner Stephen Fontana said a man, 33-year-old Nghi Le, handed himself in on Monday afternoon.

“He turned up here [at the Crime complex in Spencer Street] with his solicitor,” he told ABC Radio Melbourne.

“As we were about to enter this particular [St Albans] address, which we identified late last week, the members from the clandestine laboratory squad were forcing entry to the address and [the offender] fired shots at the members, we’re alleging at least two shots.”

“They’ve retreated after one of our members returned fire and during that period we believe he’s managed to escape from the address.”

Assistant Commissioner Fontana said police did not see Mr Le leave the address in the dark.

“We did have the area contained but it was dark … the offender was armed, they weren’t expecting him to be armed at the time,” he said.

“They [police] do need to retreat rather quickly to contain the area, but obviously he’s managed to slip out very quickly whilst that happened.”

Mr Fontana said eight people were in custody, including one person in Sydney, as part of an operation which has been running since October.

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