Taking a page out of the government’s book, a group of British “thieves” have stepped their game up and are now using electronic flying drones to locate, and steal from, marijuana farms. Crazy, right? Maybe not so much. Most of us are aware that police have been doing this for a long time using helicopters, it was only a matter of time before rivals took heed to the working strategy. That’s how the cycle works, you know?

Thieves purchase a small commercial drone, a wifi camera and a heat sensor and, just like that, they’re on their way. They then fly over areas they believe to be marijuana farms, confirm that weed is growing there, and then extort the grower.

They even have a conscience, stating that they are not violent people or aiming to cause harm. “I noticed police helicopters used thermal imaging cameras to find cannabis farms because of the heat the hydroponic lights give off, so I bought a second hand heat-seeking camera online and hooked it up to my iPad. It is not like I’m using my drone to see if people have nice televisions. I am just after drugs to steal and sell. If you break the law then you enter me and my drone’s world,” a 33-year-old gang member said.

With hundreds of small scale farms in the region, those being extorted are not hardened criminals. They’re working class Britts, caught in the power politics of the drug lords that still control the cannabis trade in Britain and other countries suffering the consequences of prohibition. (via)

“Half the time we don’t even need to use violence to get the crop. Growing cannabis has gone mainstream and the people growing it are not gangsters, especially in places like Halesowen, Cradley Heath and Oldbury,” the gang member added.

It sounds like a page from a science fiction book, but as long as weed is identified and pursued as a criminal activity, there will always be innovative individuals who find a way to work the system.

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Matt Whitlock – @mattwhitlockPM