Spy in sky! Police thermal image drone spots city cannabis factory

A police drone deployed to help hunt for car thieves ended up pinpointing a huge Birmingham cannabis factory.

The discovery was made by officers after the drone was used to search for suspects thought to be behind the theft of a car.

After officers discovered the stolen vehicle, the kit was deployed to provide live aerial footage, helping to track down a man who was subsequently arrested.

At the same time the drone’s thermal imaging picked up a heat source and officers found a large cannabis set-up across four rooms.

The discovery comes in the same week West Midlands Police launched their latest drone – the new DJI Matrice 300.

The force now has a total of eight aircrafts with the latest high tech gadget – able to stay in the air for up to 55 minutes and also waterproof, enabling it to be used during bad weather.

Drones are ‘an asset’ to the force and are now used 24/7 to help find vulnerable or missing people, track suspects, capture evidence at crime scenes and provide live aerial footage at events such as protests. They are also playing a big part in the security planning for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.

This year alone they have been deployed to more than 2,000 incidents.

The drones have also been…