“We’re in a border area here and when we get reports of this type of activity, they have to be taken very seriously and they are taken very seriously”

Gardaí arrived at a petrol station in County Donegal to diffuse a situation they believed to be an “armed robbery” when in fact it was a video shoot for a hip hop music video.

According to a report in The Irish Examiner a number of people holding guns and wearing military clothing were spotted by passers-by. It led to bystanders contacting the Gardaí.

Predictably it resulted in officers arriving at Brendan’s Filling Station at Drung on the Inishowen Peninsula. A number of uniformed officers hurried to the station whilst armed detectives also quickly made their way to the scene.

Speaking about the situation, Inspector Shaun Grant said, “The initial report was that there were a number of masked males in possession of firearms at the premises. This was a very serious call and it was given the attention it warranted”.

The Gardaí later realised it was “some type of artistic creation” and not an armed robbery of the station.

“We’re in a border area here and when we get reports of this type of activity, they have to be taken very seriously and they are taken very seriously”, Grant explained. 

“It subsequently transpired that the individuals were involved in making some type of artistic creation and we were satisfied that this was the case.”

The brainboxes behind the videoshoot didn’t even inform the owner of shop before hand about their plans.

Brendan Doherty, who owns the filling station said “A passerby phoned me to say there were six men over at the shop and they had masks and guns. So I phoned the guards and stayed in the house until they arrived.” 

Inspector Grant concluded, “The fact that no one was made aware of what was happening meant that it had to be taken seriously.”

Hopefully the footage featuring the frantic reaction of the rappers makes it to the final video.