Melbourne, Aug 30 (ANI): A catholic priest, who claims that his back yard full of cannabis plants is a gift from God, has been placed under constant surveillance by police.

Father Cyril Papudov, of Petrich, Bulgaria, has been arrested seven times but police have never caught him actually cultivating the crop.

He insists that the cannabis seeded by itself and is part of God’’s gift of nature and nothing to do with him.

There has been a great deal of suspicion over the years about what is going on with these plants, Daily Telegraph quoted police, as saying.

“He is a man of the cloth and so a lot of people don”t want to think badly of him but frankly if someone has a huge crop of cannabis in their back garden it’’s highly unlikely they are just sitting there admiring its horticultural properties,” the police added.

They are now planning a 24-hour surveillance on the priest

“By keeping a watch on the plants we can make sure this is the case and put an end to any suspicions over the purpose of these plants once and for all, ” the police said. (ANI)