Sports TV helicopter exposes cannabis farm

A cannabis farm was raided after helicopter television coverage of the Vuelta a Espana cycling race led authorities to an illegal marijuana-growing operation in the town of Igualada, near Barcelona.

Police in Catalonia seized 40 plants after they were alerted to stage eight footage of the popular elite level event that showed two suspicious looking rooftop plantations.

Officers from the Mossos d'Esquadra regional force headed to the town after viewing video from Saturday's coverage that was posted on social media.

"We received information via social media that there was a marijuana plantation on the roof of a block of flats in Igualada," said a spokeswoman for the force.

"We began an investigation, which is still under way, and we have seized 40 plants. For the moment, there have been no arrests."

The Guardian reported that officers were trying to determine who the plants had belonged to as the roof terrace was not connected to the flats.The United Association of Guardia Civil officers later posted the revealing aerial shots on social media.

The Vuelta, a grueling 21-day race through Spain and parts of France and Andorra, is the final Grand Tour cycling event of the year and finishes on Sept 15.

The eighth stage of the race began in Valls and finished in Igualada. As the helicopter provided a bird's-eye view of the final kilometers of the race, the shot panned above the roof of an apartment building with the cannabis plants. 

This comes after the Guardia Civil in Extremadura on Tuesday announced its largest ever seizure of marijuana in the western Spanish region.

Officers raided a plantation hidden on a farm in Caceres province in Western Spain at the end of August, where they found 22,000 marijuana plants, 281 kilogram of marijuana buds and a large amount of growing equipment.

Nine Albanian nationals were arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking, while a Spanish man was arrested on suspicion of people trafficking and employment offences.

Growing marijuana in Spain remains illegal despite consumption of the drug being decriminalized.

While the buying or selling of cannabis is a criminal offence in Spain, growing it on private property for private consumption is legal. But it's a grey area.

Cannabis clubs have proliferated in cities across Spain, where members are allowed to smoke what has been specifically grown by and for the cooperative.

Catalonia in 2017 legalized cannabis clubs with strict rules to reduce drug tourism. Members of the clubs can use, cultivate and distribute marijuana with some restrictions, meaning the farm found in the cycling event video could be legal.