Dutch police unveiled the brand new "Cannachopper" on Tuesday, the latest addition to their crime-fighting arsenal. The unmanned mini-helicopter is fitted with diagnostic and surveillance instruments allowing it to detect cannabis plants from the air.

The Organized Crime Task Force developed the chopper, which can stay in the air for hours at a time. The Dutch police are hoping to make great strides in their bid to uncover illegal cannabis plants.

The cultivation of the plant is a big business in the Netherlands, with profits estimated to have reached over €2 billion in 2008 alone. Only around 10 percent of the crops are sold legally in the country's many coffee shops, according to the Dutch police. The vast majority of it is smuggled abroad.

German police in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia greeted the Dutch invention, saying that most of the hash and marijuana smuggled into Germany comes from the Netherlands.

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