La Vuelta race aerial camera accidentally exposes marihuana farm

Police confiscate plantation in central Catalonia after footage goes viral on social media

Screenshot of La Vuelta footage showing a rooftop with a marihuana farm in Igualada on August 31, 2019
Screenshot of La Vuelta footage showing a rooftop with a marihuana farm in Igualada on August 31, 2019 / ACN

ACN | Barcelona

September 4, 2019 12:47 PM

La Vuelta cycling race stage on Saturday passed through Catalonia, and apart from the usual excitement of the race, viewers could enjoy picturesque images, including that of the iconic Montserrat mountain, becoming a hill for riders.

The aerial view provided by the organization showed beautiful landscapes of mountains, towns, fields… and unintentionally, also a marihuana farm on a rooftop in Igualada, central Catalonia, less than a kilometer from the finishing line.

Some spectators noticed and the footage went viral on social media, drawing the attention of the Catalan police, Mossos d’Esquadra.

Some officers went to the flat and confiscated some 40 plants – now a police inquiry is opened in order to find the owners of the farm, with no arrests made so far.

The flat was occupied but no one was to be found when the police arrived at the site.

The stage ending in Igualada was the one prior to the stage with Andorra as the finishing point, in which Catalan rider Marc Soler was prevented from victory due to his team’s strategy