A massive illegal marijuana plantation spotted via China's most hi-tech satellite on Thursday may actually be a perfectly legal industrial hemp, the South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Public Security have announced last week that the Gaofen 1, a high-definition earth observation satellite have located the alleged largest illegal marijuana plantation found since 1949 located near Jilin and Inner Mongolia.

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The country's National Space Administration boasted clear images from the satellite's most sensitive sensors, marveling on views that can be seen from the satellites location after it was launched about a year ago.

However, a South China Morning Post report published on Tuesday stated that the Chinese space authority has removed the said report on their website on Monday without any explanation.

According to the Narcotics Control Bureau, the reported cannabis tract could be an industrial hemp, which usually contains negligible amounts of various cannabis plants that are farmed for its oil, seeds and fiber.

A report from the Beijing Times indicated that an unnamed spokesperson claimed that the bureau had not been coordinating with the space administration during the identification of drug plantations.

He also explained that though the satellite could very well detect such illegal plantations, records show that no such thing has turned up as of this time.

Since 2003, industrial hemps are perfectly legal in southern China's Yunnan province as well as some parts of the northern Heilongjiang province.

On the other hand, reports stated that it is still unclear whether such plantations are legal in Inner Mongolia where the plantation was spotted.

According to the space authority's deleted report, the Ministry was able to establish that the plantation seen near Jilin and Inner Mongolia through analyzing images from the Gaofen 1 satellite.

It also indicated that the satellite have discovered massive smuggling activities and several illegal offshore oil depots in the seas near the province of Fujian.

Tagsindustrial hemp, marijuana, Yunnan, Satellite, Gaofen-1