Flying High: Crook Uses Drone To Spot Pot Farms

Criminals are using drones fitted with heat-seeking cameras to spot cannabis farms that can be raided, it has been claimed.

Crooks are fitting the flying remote-controlled devices with equipment to spot the heat given off by farms' hydroponic lights, according to reports.

Once a farm is identified, the property is reportedly either burgled or the owner extorted.

One criminal told the Halesowen News: "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."

The 33-year-old criminal added: "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."

Labour MP Tom Watson, who is chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on drones, said the story was "remarkable".

He told the paper: "It is no surprise enterprising criminals would want to get the upper hand in the criminal underworld by using drones."

There are a multitude of uses for drones, which were originally developed and used by the military for combat purposes.

Google recently purchased high-altitude solar-powered drone builder Titan Aerospace as part of an attempt to bring internet access to remote areas of the world.