Two Swiss pot smokers thought they could puff away

[Skunkxxx]

High-Tech Pot Bust Becomes Political Issue

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

 

 

 

Two Swiss pot smokers thought they could puff away undisturbed in a parked car — but they weren't counting on the military surveillance drone flying overhead.

 

The soldiers testing the pilotless plane via remote control near the city of Lucerne (search) called police when they spotted the pair, reports the Le Matin Dimanche newspaper. Cop cars soon drove up, sirens screaming, and arrested the puffers in mid-joint.

 

The whole thing would have ended there had not Boris Banga (search), a socialist member of the Swiss parliament, complained to fellow lawmakers that the incident in late May was an infringement of the unnamed smokers' civil liberties.

 

Defense Minister Samuel Schmid (search) admitted that the drone hadn't been "made to spy on citizens" and reassured the public that the Israeli-built aircraft's camera wasn't powerful enough to identify individuals.

 

But Schmid went on to argue that "when one is in national service, one is also a citizen, and citizens have the duty to denounce that which seems abnormal."

 

In this case, Schmid explained, the soldiers guiding the craft had noticed two unidentifiable individuals taking long drags on a lit cigarette being passed back and forth — something clearly "abnormal."

 

 

Banga did not respond to that line of reasoning, the paper reports, but he did later make a statement wondering if Swiss citizens should begin to worry about "being observed not only horizontally, but vertically as well."

 

Switzerland has seven such drones, capable of flying as high as 10,000 feet, said the newspaper. But it added that paranoid residents could take comfort in the fact that none of them can operate more than 60 miles from either of two radio base stations.

 

 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,122773,00.html

[novice grower]

Hi there.

 

If this "spy plane" can not identify indivudual peopl,how the fuck did they know these two guys were,"The soldiers guiding the craft,noticed two individuals taking long drags on a lit cigareete being passed back and forth-something clearly ABNORMAL".

 

Now my q is; how could they see what they were doing without seeing their faces ????

 

Sounds like bullshit to me and just another reason to be a bit MORE paranoid !

 

Cheers.

[zen]

Ohhh my god!

This actually got into the news?

 

I know one of the people who got busted....

 

She was here a while ago as an exchange student,

She rang me up to tell me about it.

[free choice]

Ahhhh .. the SWISS ..... VERY CLEVER MORONS INDEED ....