Poland: thieves in apple orchards due to high prices

Because of high – for Poland – prices of apples used for processing, Polish growers have recently many problems with thieves in orchards. They can steal between 100 kg up to 5 thousand MT per night from one orchard in Mazovia region. The police from Grojec (the major town in the largest apple growing region in Poland) arrests several thieves every day.

According to the Press Office of The Polish Police Headquarters in Radom, “expensive apples are the main reason of thefts. But because of good cooperation with growers we are able to effectively fight crime. Only during few days of last week police stopped 4 men trying to steal apples or sell stolen fruit.”

In the village of Stara Wies the police arrested two men of age 30 and 51. Both gathered 450 kg of apples (worth approximately ? 132) ready to be moved out of the orchard. In the village of Wola Worowska, the orchard owner stopped a 21-year old man who already picked apples worth ? 318 and tried to sell them. In another case the owner of processing apple buying office informed the police about the suspicious transaction. The arrested man testified that he stole more than 100 kg of fruit only few hours before.

This year the processing apples prices in Poland are approximately 4-fold higher than in 2006 and the average price per kilogram was ? 0,25-0,29 during last few days.

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