Six alleged fruit and vegetable thieves caught in Spain
The arrestees, three Spaniards and three Romanians, are believed to have been involved in at least 24 thefts of avocados, mangos, peppers, aubergines, courgettes and custard apples.
The National Police began investigations on November 2016 after catching seven people stealing 2,401 kilos of avocados from a farm in Velez-Malaga. Suspecting that the thieves may form part of a criminal group, as it was unlikely they would be able to sell such a large amount of loot on their own, officers started looking into similar crimes.
Investigations eventually led to Almeria, where a criminal group was found to be organising thefts of large amounts of fruit, mainly mangoes and avocados, from farms along the Andalucian coast.
The main suspect is a businessman who made the most of his profession as a wholesaler to box up and sell the stolen fruit and veg, usually mixed with legal produce of lower quality.
Coincidentally, officers discovered a pending arrest order for theft issued by an Alicante court for one of the arrestees, the son of the main suspect.
