Michael Jackson`s abandoned home used as training camp by SWAT

London: "King of Pop" Michael Jackson`s Neverland ranch is being as a training camp by SWAT.

A unit of highly specialised weapon officers is using the 3,000-acre property to practise combat drills, reported Sun Online. The cops use the ranch in Santa Barbara, California, to rehearse tackling life or death scenarios involving assassins, terrorists, hostage-takers and armed robbers. The main house where Jackson lived in and its subsidiary buildings, overgrown grasslands and the near-by hilly terrain makes his property an ideal location to set up the camp. Retired sheriff Jim Thomas, a leading investigator when Jackson was first accused of abusing Jordy Chandler at Neverland in 1993, said, "The team don`t just need to work in urban areas near houses. They need wide open rural areas too where they might have to handle someone in a ranch outbuilding." Police raided Neverland several times when Jackson lived there including in 2003 when he was accused of abusing Gavin Arvizo. It is currently owned jointly by a company and Jackson`s estate. His family has reportedly shown interest in buying the property where Jackson lived for 20 years and raised his three children. PTI