After cops take guns, drugs from squatter-occupied home, intruders are out of jail and loading other items from home into U-Haul — as police helplessly watch

This isn't one of those exasperating stories that features homeowners unable to jettison squatters from their property despite all justice and reason.

No, this tale is mostly about the jaw-dropping things squatters literally were allowed to get away with after they were out of the property — and all while local police helplessly watched.

What are the details?

Recently squatters broke in to a multimillion-dollar home in Sammamish, Washington, which certainly piqued the interest of local workers who help maintain the property while the homeowner lives overseas, KIRO-TV reported.

And what did one of these workers find once inside the home?

Oh, just a dozen guns, bulletproof vests, over 15,000 fentanyl pills, along with heroin and meth and more than $40,000 in cash, the station said.

Not surprisingly, the worker called 911, after which police arrived, KIRO reported.

"The amount of guns, drugs, etcetera that were confiscated out of that place are not for personal use or for any good reason," Sammamish Police Chief Dan Pingrey told the station. "I totally recognize how frustrating it is for the neighborhood, and it's just as frustrating for us to be honest with you."

Oh, but it gets better.

Pingrey explained to KIRO that while police were on the scene "an unlicensed motorcycle showed up with two people on it."

The chief told the station that neighbors identified the duo on the motorcycle as the squatters, and they were duly arrested for burglary.

But wouldn't you know that they were both out of jail within days, KIRO said — and headed back to the property, this time with a crew of people in tow.

"After they were out of jail, we had a large group trying to get back into the house," Pingrey told the station. "No one was supposed to be there. The homeowners were not allowing anyone to stay there."

How much more frustrating does it get?

And then — like a cherry on top of a free cake — the squatters demanded to be allowed to take items from the property they claimed they owned, KIRO reported.

Pingrey explained to the station that law enforcement was limited in what it could do based on advice from from local prosecutors and lawyers — in other words, legally their hands were tied — and all officers could do was conduct a "civil standby."

KIRO said a neighbor took photos of police vehicles lined up on the street with officers watching the squatters filling a U-Haul truck with items from inside the home.

One photo showed a garage full of appliances — as well as an ATM, the station said.

"We were not allowed to go in there with them and had to allow them to take this property out," Pingrey told KIRO. "The person who had been illegally living there [was able] to come in and get what they stated was their property."

It isn't clear specifically who advised police that they weren't allowed to enter the property with the squatters. The King County Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday didn't immediately respond to TheBlaze's request for comment, and Pingrey was not in his office Wednesday.

Anything else?

The station reported that a worker for the homeowner was on the property Monday and said he was changing the locks. KIRO added that a home security technician also there.

"Somehow these squatters who are living in this residence have as much rights as the homeowner. And that's very difficult for any of us to understand," Pingrey added to the station. "It could happen again somewhere else, and this is where people in communities really need to be diligent."