Anything that is valuable is a thief’s delight. And with the prices of lemon skyrocketing in the market, thieves in Shahjahanpur stole 60 kilograms of lemon stored in a vegetable trader’s godown. The thieves also stole some other high-priced vegetables from the godown.
This crazy lemon theft isn’t the only one being reported. Following the ‘heist’ in Shahjahanpur, a similar incident has now been reported in Kanpur too. During the last four days, thieves stole approximately 15,000 lemons weighing 7.5 quintals from Kanpur orchards, reports said.
There is a range of factors affecting the price of lemons in India, but it could have been previously unimaginable to foresee lemon thefts. News18 takes a look at weird thefts of the past and our own ‘sour debaucheries’.
Lemons the Jewel of the Crown
Manoj Kashyap, the vegetable trader in Shahjanapur, said the thieves took away 60 kilograms of lemon, 40 kg of onions, 38 kg of garlic and a fork from his godown.
The trader from Bahadurganj Mohalla, who has a shop in the Bajaria area, said that on Sunday morning when he reached the vegetable market, he saw that the lock of the godown was broken and the vegetables were lying scattered on the road. On receiving information about the theft, in this case, the traders gathered and expressed their displeasure.
The police spokesman said that they were apprised of the matter and would track down the thieves at the earliest. The prices of lemon have shot up to an unimaginable extent in the recent weeks.
In Lucknow, lemon is selling at Rs 325 per kilogram and Rs 13 per piece which is decidedly higher than other fruits in the market.
Thieves Stole a Truck With Nutella, Kinder Eggs in Germany
Thieves stole a refrigerated truck loaded with up to 20 tonnes of Nutella and Kinder chocolate eggs in the German town of Neustadt in August 2017, reported NPR. The sugary haul was estimated to be worth around $80,000, prompting law enforcement in Germany to issue some sound advice to citizens: “Anyone offered large quantities [of chocolate] via unconventional channels should report it to the police immediately.”
A separate trailer containing 30 tonnes of fruit juice was mysteriously stolen the same weekend in Wittenberg, about 260 miles northeast of the missing hazelnut spread.
Stolen Garlic in Australia
A farmer in Victoria, Australia, had her entire garlic crop harvested while she was sleeping in the middle of the night in 2018. Approximately 400kg of garlic worth up to $15,000 was hauled out of the ground during the heist, which police estimate took a few hours, the West Australian reported.
Leah McLeod posted on Facebook that the only thing she had left from her crop were bulbs she couldn’t sell. “They’ll probably try to sell it to green grocers, restaurants, or farmers markets,” she wrote in her post.
Cheese Heists
In 2016, a truck carrying 20,000 pounds of cheese was reported stolen in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Authorities confirmed that the semi-truck was stolen early in the morning from a parking lot storage area. According to an NBC affiliate, the truck contained approximately $46,000 in cheese.
This isn’t the first time cheese has been stolen in the area. Earlier this year, a trailer of cheese was stolen in Germantown, about 30 miles north of Oak Creek. In addition, police recovered stolen Parmesan cheese in Grand Chute, 120 miles north.
“The cheese pirates are back at it again,” Wisconsin Cheese Mart’s Vince Christian told NBC26. “It’s crazy that cheese has become so valuable that people are fleeing with entire trucks of it.”
Trifling With Truffles
According to reports, truffles are also one of the most decadent targets for culinary-minded criminals. In 2005, $100,000 worth of black truffles were stolen in the middle of the night from a warehouse in Provence, France, Mental Floss reported.
It was a sophisticated operation, and not just because their target was a Michelin-starred ingredient: the crooks travelled by rooftop, using rope ladders and night-vision goggles to slink into the warehouse and access the refrigerator where the truffles were stored.
And Finally, Stung by Thieves
In 2017, hundreds of hives were stolen from a beekeeper just north of Sacramento, California. This is an area densely populated with almond trees that require pollination, and anyone with a swarm of bees can charge top dollar for the service. This case eventually led police to a suspect named Pavel Tveretinov, who was in possession of 2500 allegedly stolen hives taken from various locations in the area, valued at $875,000.
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