Satellite: Police in Grants Pass, Oregon, used the website to zoom in on the area belonging to Curtis W. Croft and saw what looked to be row upon row of plants, pictured
Police say images from Google Earth helped them track down a marijuana farm.
Officers in Grants Pass, Oregon, heard 50-year-old Curtis W. Croft was bragging about drugs he was growing on his property.
Investigators then used satellite pictures from the website to analyse the area and saw dozen of plants lined up in neat rows.
Farm: Police were first told about the farm when the man was heard 'bragging' about the drugs he was growing on his farm (library image)
Once an aircraft had inspected the area, the department's Rogue Area Drug Enforcement Team checked state records to see if Croft was allowed to cultivate the drugs.
Officers discovered he was permitted to grow for five people, which allows him to have 30 mature plants, but police say they seized 94 during the operation.
Croft was then arrested on drug charges but was released last week.
This is not the first time Google Earth has been used to investigate alleged pot growers. Police started using the programme years ago to look for illegal crops.
Caught: Once investigators had pinpointed the farm using satellite images, they were able to send in officers to raid the property
In 2006, Wisconsin authorities were able to catch a man allegedly growing several fields of marijuana while the Department of Fish and Game used the images to spot unpermitted fields which could only be seen from above in California.
Police in Switzerland also use the 'view from Earth' website on a regular basis to locate suspicious drug fields.
Possession of small amounts of marijuana is not a crime in Oregon and can be grown in small amounts for medicinal purposes.
Culled from DAILY MAIL
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