14 DAY TRIAL // While patrolling Hungary's border with Austria, police officers chanced to come across a secret garden. Mind you, this secret garden was nothing like the ones described in fairy tales. Thus, it comprised several dozen fully grown marijuana plants.
It's unclear when the cannabis plants were brought to the area, but seeing how well developed they were when the officers found them, they must have been there for quite a while before finally being discovered.
The secret garden
Information shared with the public by the police officers in charge of investigating this case says that the marijuana was found floating about on Hungary's Lake Neusiedl, which sits not far from the country's border with Austria.
Each of the plants was nestled in its own pot, and they all looked like they had received lots of TLC since infancy, The Local informs. By the looks of it, the cannabis plants were hidden from view by a patch of dense reeds.
In fact the police officers say that, had they not been forced to comb the region on an unrelated matter, chances are that they would not have found them. From this standpoint, it's all hail to whoever committed the crime that forced authorities to explore the lake.
As mentioned, the marijuana plants were fully grown at the time they were discovered. More precisely, officers say that, in just a few weeks, their buds would have been developed enough to be harvested and processed.
The culprit
Oddly enough, the cannabis was found to be the property of a 35-year-old amateur gardener who told authorities that he was growing them not because he wanted to sell weed, but for his own use. Then again, the garden did comprise a whopping 42 plants, so chances are this man wasn't exactly telling the truth.
An investigation is ongoing, and police officers say that it will not be long until they figure out whether the 35-year-old did in fact plant the garden for his use alone, or if maybe the marijuana was meant for sale. If found guilty of selling the weed, the amateur gardener could spend 8 years behind bars.
Mind you, this incident is not the first of its kind, and surely won't be the last. Thus, it was earlier this year that authorities in the UK found a cannabis factory of about 30 plants hidden inside the disused ward of a mental hospital in Cardiff. Whoever was behind this factory was stealing electricity from the hospital to keep it up and running.