London: A suspected drug dealer stopped by British police caught a lucky break when they found nothing in his car – until he pulled out his phone to access a translation app and inadvertently showed officers a video of his cannabis farm.
Police in Sunderland made a routine stop of a Mercedes car and noticed a strong smell of cannabis when they interviewed its driver and passenger, Northumbria Police said in a statement on Monday.
A search of the vehicle yielded nothing suspicious, but then one of the suspects, who did not speak English, gave the game away.
“In a bid to fully understand officers, he opened up his phone to click on Google Translate,” police said.
“Much to his horror, a video appeared on his screen which showed a significant cannabis farm in operation,” said Sergeant Steve Passey.
“It’s safe to say the suspect was a little shocked and tried to quickly lock his phone in the hope that nobody had seen.”
Police later raided the farm and found a “sophisticated cannabis operation” of 600 cannabis plants over three floors.
The two men were arrested on suspicion of the production of a Class B drug and were released on police bail.