London’s Metropolitan Police has some explaining to do, after its website and Twitter account apparently got hacked and defaced with obscene messages.

“F**K THE POLICE FREE DA GANG!! #CHUCKLINGHELLA” the unknown hackers posted on Twitter at 23:32 British summer time (1046 GMT) on Friday.

Woah! Met Police account hacked I see 🙈 pic.twitter.com/LBarjsRVeJ — Karen C (@K4RENC) July 19, 2019

Around the same time, the same message – and several others – appeared as an official press release on the Met Police website.

More than a dozen messages have been posted so far. The hashtag appears to be a video game reference.

"We are aware that the @metpoliceuk has been subject to unauthorised access and our media team are working hard to delete the messages and ensure the security of the account," a police spokesman told reporters. "Please ignore any Tweets until we verify that it is back under official control."

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