Swiss police find field of cannabis using Google Earth
Google Earth is a brilliant piece of technology that has been used in a number of intriguing ways. And it’s now being used to discover crimes taking place. Remember kids, if you’re doing something illegal outside in the open, Google could have you on camera.
Living in the UK, I’m used to being caught on camera on a regular basis. We are the CCTV capital of the world, with anyone traveling from one side of London to the other supposedly able to be tracked the whole way by static police and local authority cameras. But even that level of coverage pales into insignificance compared to the coverage provided by Google Earth.
For the initiated, Google Earth gives you the world at your fingertips, turning your computer into a virtual globe. Regularly updated satellite imagery allows you to fly over areas before zooming in to a few hundred meters above ground level. With Street View also now added to the mix, you can even see things happening at ground level, though there has been much debate as to whether this infringes on rights to privacy.
Google Earth is generally used by people to check out aerial views of their own house and not much more. But, according to the Associated Press, Swiss police have turned to Google Earth in order to help solve crimes, and they discovered one taking place right under their noses.
The police were investigating a suspected drugs ring, and using Google Earth to locate the addresses of two farmers thought to be involved. Whilst doing so, they discovered a large marijuana plantation measuring almost two acres. That amount of weed would require one hell of a big spliff.
The head of Zurich police’s specialist narcotics unit, Norbert Klossner, said, “It was an interesting chance discovery.” Indeed it was, but it was one that contributed to the arrest of 16 people and the seizing of 1.2 tons of cannabis.
The lesson here for any budding growers of weed is to nurture it inside, otherwise the Google Gods could well be watching. And if an observant policeman happens to stumble over the section of land being used to grow the drug, those days of getting high could turn into days of getting by… in prison.
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