Advertisement

Woman: Police confused tomatoes for pot

Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter

SHIELDAIG, Scotland, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- An elderly Shieldaig, Scotland, woman said police raided her home after mistaking the tomato plants in her window for marijuana.

Lulu Matheson, 79, and her son Gus, 47, said they were in the cottage Matheson has lived in for 53 years last week when a group of police cars stopped in front of the home, The Daily Mail reported Thursday.

Advertisement

"I got a terrible fright and I couldn't understand what they were doing here because I knew we had nothing more than tomatoes in the window. I don't know what the neighbors must be thinking," the 79-year-old widow said.

Gus Matheson said police insisted on taking samples of the tomato plants to test for cannabis and brought sniffer dogs from a police station two hours away to search the cottage.

"My 26-year-old nephew Stephen -- who hardly even smokes a cigarette, never mind cannabis -- lives with his girlfriend in a caravan next door and they went over and searched there too, after handcuffing him. It was a terrible carry-on," he said.

Matheson said he has filed a complaint with the police department.

Advertisement

"Despite leaving with their tails between their legs, the police didn't even apologize," he said.

Police spokesman Duncan MacLean confirmed the house was searched for drugs and no illegal substances were found.

Latest Headlines