Swiss Police Find Marijuana Field With Google Earth

ZURICH, Switzerland — Swiss police said Thursday they stumbled across a large marijuana plantation while using Google Earth, the search engine company's satellite mapping software.

Police said the find was part of a bigger investigation that led to the arrest of 16 people and seizure of 1.2 tons (1.1 metric tons) of marijuana as well as cash and valuables worth 900,000 Swiss francs ($780,000).

Officers discovered the hemp field in the northeastern canton (state) of Thurgau last year while investigating an alleged drug ring, said the head of Zurich police's specialist narcotics unit Norbert Klossner.

The plantation, measuring almost two acres (7,500 square meters), was hidden inside a field of corn. But officers using Google Earth to locate the address of two farmers suspected of involvement in the drug operation quickly spotted the illegal crop.

"It was an interesting chance discovery," said Klossner.

Prosecutor Gabi Alkalay told reporters in Zurich that she plans to complete her criminal investigation in February, after which she will formally charge the 16 suspects and ask for prison sentences for all of them.

The gang is alleged to have sold up to 7 tons (7.7 US tons) of hashish and marijuana between 2004 and 2008, with an annual turnover of 3-10 million francs a year, officials said.

Comments

[scared4ALL]

12:00 PM on 01/31/2009

Please everyone, tell Obama legalize it and to let the people in prison for minor marijuana charges out. Allow our people to grow hemp and save our planet. Save our trees and stop the oil addiction by using hemp instead. The economy will recover quicker. Turn our prison population into farmers, too.

[scared4ALL]

11:57 AM on 01/31/2009

Please everyone, tell Obama legalize it and to let the people in prison for minor marijuana charges out Allow our people to grow hemp and save our planet. Save our trees and stop the oil addiction by using hemp instead. The economy will recover quicker. Turn our prison population into farmers, too.

[hortonhearsawho2]

10:37 AM on 01/31/2009

Google goes Green: Attempts to corner market.

[johnnygoodwud]

05:38 PM on 01/30/2009

google earth= major buzz kill

[bartonfink]

04:21 PM on 01/30/2009

obviously google earth is a serious big brother-ty­pe threat because they're so, ahem, high up there (sorry)

anyway, legalize it, or at least decriminal­ize reasonable quantities­. 13 states and counting

[hortonhearsawho2]

10:39 AM on 01/31/2009

13 states worth sounds like a reasonable quantity..­.

[batguano]

02:43 PM on 01/30/2009

The real crime is the abusive anti-marij­uana laws that hurt so many for an act that harms no one and helps many with wasting diseases. At a time when Big-Pharma pushes drugs that actually kill many thousands annually and cigarettes many more thousands, to hunt and prosecute people for pot is an abominatio­n and terrible waste. ("In fiscal year 2001, the DEA provided $13.1 million to 102 programs in all 50 states for marijuana eradicatio­n. Statistics show 99.42 percent of eradicated marijuana that year was ditchweed. In 2004, the cost to federal taxpayers for marijuana eradicatio­n rose to at least $3.67 billion. This figure does not include state and local spending." In this "economic downturn" for us to waste many billions on hunting, arresting, prosecutin­g and incarcerat­ing people guilty of nothing else is the crime! http://www­.haleakala­times.com/­news/story­2245.aspx ) An oscene waste of time and resources that could be used for many worthy uses. Farmers in most of the world are producing Industrial Hemp, a product with literally hundreds of uses http://www­.hort.purd­ue.edu/new­crop/ncnu0­2/v5-284.h­tml but American farmers cannot due to archaic and idiotic prohibitio­ns. The exception is North Dakota that has challenged the DEA Feds on this issue http://www­.votehemp.­com/PR/06-­18-07_nort­h_dakota_f­armers.htm­lhas The time has come to end the harmful prohibitio­n on Marijuana and Industrial Hemp (IH) and legalize their use.

[hortonhearsawho2]

10:39 AM on 01/31/2009

The real crime is getting busted...

[batguano]

02:33 PM on 01/30/2009

The "War On Drugs" has been a plan to empower "law enforcemen­t" domestical­ly,& has very often criminaliz­ed otherwise innocent people,whi­le leading to a bloated, out of control police state.The same mindset is now leading to a total misunderst­anding of the nature of poor farmers & the crops they can grow to sustain their families in Afganistan­.The same ignorance/­arrogance did the same counter-pr­oductive acts against poor farmers, & an indigenous crop,in the Andes,with coca.We sprayed poison on farmers fields & did crimes upon them and their land,other food crops,wate­r,animals & childrens health.The bush regime & their myopic idiocy is doing incalculab­le harm to american policy in Afganistan in the name of the "war on drugs",a phoney program that only creates more problems,b­ut does NOT solve a thing,as we are seeing with the increased armed resistance as you point out,and the acceptance of the taliban as "protector­s".Drug use in america has been exploited for political purposes,a­nd the BS eradicatio­n efforts in Peru,Boliv­ia or Afganistan is turning friends into enemies...­.as planned by the bush/neoco­n war crowd!....­fascist police/mil­itary policy MUST have "enemies" and "perps" to sustain their oppression and bloated budgets,wh­ether ciilian or military!.­.....the causes and ways to "combat" drug use in america are a medical and social issue....a­nd the "productio­n" of drug plants by poor farmers is a social and economic problem...­....NOT a military/p­olice excuse to destroy the lives of people!...­.LEAVE NATIVE/TRI­BAL CULTURES/F­ARMERS ALONE!....­RESIST THE PHONEY WAR ON DRUGS!

[batguano]

02:23 PM on 01/30/2009

Anti Marijuana and Hemp laws benefit only the police/pri­son industrial complex while costing society many billions in wasted resources. Hemp (IH), has thousands of uses and enormous economic value, yet is still illegal. The madness, ignorance and greed of the "Drug War" fools, and corporatio­ns and businesses that benefit from it's continued illegality continues. Please review the following websites for a different perspectiv­e.

We humans have evolved with cannabinoi­ds and they have enormous health related benefits for our bodies....­...for mankind. http://www­.thc-minis­try.net/ca­nnabinoids­.html
At a time when Big Pharma pushes their deadly "legal" obscenely expensive drugs that cause the deaths of many tens of thousands annually and cigarettes and alcohol kill thousands more, it is an abominatio­n that otherwise law-abidin­g people are dragged into the criminal "justice" system and have their lives and those of their families ruined for smoking Cannabis. Police agencies waste billions and destroy the lives of hundreds of thousands.

http://www­.hort.purd­ue.edu/new­crop/ncnu0­2/v5-284.h­tml
http://www­.votehemp.­com/overvi­ew.html
http://nyn­orml.org/n­ews.html

RESIST THE PHONEY "WAR ON DRUGS"! Legalize it!

[blogattelle]

11:56 AM on 01/30/2009

next time try to put many 1 square meter mirrors between the plants - a sort of archimedes­' burning glasses- and hope they blind this nosey satellite.­..

[rightrant]

09:29 AM on 01/30/2009

All I can say to anyone about Google Earth is - if you don't have it get it!
I can see my car on it!!!!!

[hortonhearsawho2]

10:40 AM on 01/31/2009

So, what's your car ON...

[msjimmied]

07:05 PM on 01/29/2009

Legalize, control and tax it, and a lot of criminals, prisons, violence and our budget problems will disappear.

[scared4ALL]

12:14 PM on 01/31/2009

Yes, legalize it and to let the people in prison for minor marijuana charges out. Allow our people to grow hemp and save our planet. Save our trees and stop the oil addiction by using hemp instead. The economy will recover quicker. Turn our prison population into farmers, too.

[juxtapostle]

05:23 PM on 01/29/2009

Prohibitio­nists deserve a taste of their own vile medicine.

http://www­.spiegel.d­e/internat­ional/worl­d/0,1518,6­04183,00.h­tml

http://www­.saukvalle­y.com/arti­cles/2009/­01/27/opin­ion/column­ists/0753d­a6affa709a­c3ab270a4b­a317b01.tx­t

http://msg­board.snop­es.com/mes­sage/ultim­atebb.php?/ubb/get_­topic/f/57­/t/000978/­p/1.html

[rwt1138]

04:03 PM on 01/29/2009

Google Earth must have incredibly tight zoom.

[stefiz]

03:31 PM on 01/29/2009

thanks alot Google Earth! jerks!!

[ezbreezer]

03:26 PM on 01/29/2009

Google Earth---- You've done evil !!!!!!!!