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Criminals Using Drones To Find Cannabis Farms and Steal Crops

Posted by samzenpus on from the red-eye-in-the-sky dept.

schwit1 (797399) writes "There has been a huge surge in the number of hidden cannabis farms across Halesowen, Cradley Heath and Oldbury, towns on the outskirts of rural Shropshire some seven miles from central Birmingham. They require hydroponic lights for the marijuana plants to grow – and the huge amounts of excess heat given off make them easily spottable for a would-be criminal with a drone carrying infrared cameras. One such man says that after finding a property with a cannabis farm he and his crew either burgle or 'tax' the victim."

11 of 258 comments (clear)

  1. Just one more reason by lawnboy5-O · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... to legalize and regulate.

    1. Re:Just one more reason by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Legalizing weed would take some money/power away from cartels which is always a good thing.

      Sure. But it would also take money/power from the police, police unions, prison guards unions, etc.

    2. Re:Just one more reason by nbauman · · Score: 5, Informative

      Sure. But it would also take money/power from the police, police unions, prison guards unions, etc.

      Come on, I refuse to believe that these entities are actively working to put more people in prison for no good reason.

      That's bullshit, police unions represents police officers, usually union policies are made by vote.

      I refuse to believe that most police officers want to lock up people for no good reason

      I believe it. In New York City, we had the stop and frisk laws. Officers got caught on tape telling the cops under their command to fill a quota of arrests -- and to arrest black people. Most of the arrests were pot busts after illegal searches. (Possessing marijuana was a violation, not a crime. The cops forced people to commit a misdemeanor by emptying their pockets and displaying marijuana, which was a crime.) That was the subject of a lawsuit, which was also reported on Slashdot. It all came out in court, and Judge Schendlin wrote it up in her written decision.

      The new police commissioner was complaining that cops arrest people towards the end of their shift so that they can get overtime pay. Think about that for a second. They're arresting people so that they can make more money.

      As I recall, one of the strongest opponents of liberalizing drug laws in California was the prison guards' union. It was pretty clear that they wanted to keep the prisons full to protect their jobs.

      That said, they may very well have insights into why weed is bad. They may have experience traffic accidents, etc.

      Oh, yeah. Who has more insight into why weed is bad -- cops? Or doctors, psychiatrists and scientists?

  2. Economic Threat by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This will lead to thousands of drug enforcement pilot jobs getting offshored to afghanistan where militants can remotely fly drug search drones around England for 100th of the price of a guy in a Cessna.

  3. Where? by freeze128 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Halesowen? Cradley Heath? Oldbury? Shropshire? Where are these towns, Middle Earth?

    1. Re:Where? by dkf · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Halesowen? Cradley Heath? Oldbury? Shropshire? Where are these towns, Middle Earth?

      Where do you think Tolkien stole the names from? Though he should've avoided getting creative with "Mordor" and stuck with Wolverhampton.

      --
      "Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
  4. Re:Cartels will be fine.... by antifoidulus · · Score: 5, Informative

    Except for that's not how it's panning out in places like Colorado and the Netherlands, where it's largely smaller growers who are making money....

    --
    Monstar L
  5. Re:Left-Wing Propoganda by Plunky · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Colorado is (narrowly) governed by the Democrats, not right wing

    Hello America!

    I think you will find that both the Democrats and the Republicans are firmly right wing.

    Sincerely,
    The Rest of the World

  6. Re:Cartels will be fine.... by erikkemperman · · Score: 5, Informative

    Except for that's not how it's panning out in places like Colorado and the Netherlands, where it's largely smaller growers who are making money....

    The Netherlands here. Not quite. We have this utterly silly situation where the selling of mj is sort of legal, up to a certain weight and only in designated establishments (the famous coffeeshops). However the growing and distributing is quite illegal.

    The mom and pop growers are entirely insignificant compared to organized criminals. The latter produce way more than local demand, so much of that is exported.

    --
    Gosh, thanks. That must be why the other ships call me Meatfucker -- GCU Grey Area (Eccentric)
  7. Re:Left-Wing Propoganda by Ginger+Unicorn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's everyone's business, because we all have live on this planet together. Most of the world realises this, and we'd all feel a lot more comfortable if America would realise it too.

    --
    (1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
  8. Re:Cartels will be fine.... by erikkemperman · · Score: 5, Informative

    That is correct. Like I said, an utterly silly state of affairs. So the output of these coffeeshops is legal (provided they respect the weight limits, don't sell to underage visitors, etc) while their inputs aren't.

    The way it is now (but this is being debated constantly) we are basically not enjoying the major potential benefit of decriminalisation, which is taking the wind out of the sails of organized crime.

    --
    Gosh, thanks. That must be why the other ships call me Meatfucker -- GCU Grey Area (Eccentric)