Thieves Using £60 drones Bought from supermarkets to Steal Drugs

Criminals are using cheap kit bought from supermarkets to build heat seeking drones they can use to track down cannabis farms to rob.

Tech-savvy thieves are buying drones for as little as £60 from supermarkets such as Tesco and attaching infra-red cameras to them, which they can monitor via an iPad.

By flying the modified drones over houses, they can locate the drug dens, as cannabis farms produce a large amount of heat, due to the huge hydroponic heat and light required to grow the plants.

One convicted burglar, who did not wish to be identified, said: 'I bought my first drone for a few hundred quid and learnt how to fly it over wasteland and fitted a wifi camera to it so I could look into people’s windows.

'However, 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 one online and hooked it up to my iPad.'

After finding a property containing a cannabis farm the criminal would either burgle or 'tax' the victim.

The 33-year-old 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.

'They are fair game, 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.'

Drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, were first used by the military but simpler remote control models are now on sale from many high street shops and have a flying time of 30 minutes.

Civilian companies are now using drones for various projects and both fire services and police forces are exploring their use.