January 31, 2009 by Matt Thomas
It’s been a while since anybody thought of Google as merely an advertising company. The company has spent years, not to mention millions of dollars, cultivating the image of Google as a multi-service ideas factory, where anything’s possible, from stopping global warming and flu outbreaks to exploring space. However, even they didn’t see themselves as crime fighters, until today that is.
Swiss authorities today announced that they have found a large marijuana plantation whilst using the company’s satellite mapping software, Google Earth. The discovery was part of an ongoing investigation which has so far led to the arrest of sixteen drug traffickers and the confiscation of 1.2 tonnes of Cannabis. The haul has a street value of $2.5 million US dollars.
Zurich Police have revealed that the 7500 square meter crop was found in the state of Thurgau, hidden within a larger crop of corn. The sixteen arrested are thought to have made an average of 6 million Swiss Francs a year since 2004, selling an estimated 7.7 tonnes of the narcotic herb.
Swiss authorities described it as “An interesting chance discovery.”
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