Thieves steal tons of olives in Southern Europe
No money or precious jewels, but olives are the new target for Southern European thieves. In the Spanish province of Seville, police seized no fewer than 74 tons of olives from a criminal gang. Their market value: half a million euros. Cha-chinggg.
We can’t keep our hands off olives either, but would we really steal them and risk a prison sentence? Spanish thieves are willing to go that far. The reason: olives are incredibly valuable at the moment. That has everything to do with the fact that there are simply very few olives to harvest. And that, in turn, is due to long, hot and dry periods.
Failed olive harvests
Spain is the world’s leading olive oil producer. Nowhere are as many olives grown or as much olive oil produced as here. But many Spanish regions faced long periods of extreme heat and drought this year. As a result, many olive harvests failed completely. The olives that could be harvested are now worth their weight in gold. Their value rose by no less than 112 percent. In the case of Spanish olive oil, you can take the phrase liquid gold quite literally. And that attracts thieves like magpies to jewels.
Cunning thieves
So Spanish police have their hands full. In the town of Pilas, west of Seville, police arrested 12 people involved in the major theft of 74 tons of olives. The criminal group operated cunningly: they delivered their haul to an olive buyer in Pilas, who immediately put the olives in brine. This allowed the buyer to resell the olives inconspicuously.
Greek olive oil
The olive thieves are not active only in Spain. Things are also getting seriously out of hand in Greece. There, too, heat and drought hit hard over the past year. In the city of Polygyros, thieves stole tens of thousands of litres of olive oil by draining the vats at a warehouse belonging to an olive oil cooperative. The value of the haul? Around €370,000.
Oh yeah: delicious recipes with olives
Now that you know you literally have liquid gold in your possession, you’d better put that olive oil to the best possible use. For example, make a delicious fresh focaccia with olive oil and sage. It really lets the oil shine. Still have some olives in your fridge? Then we recommend this recipe for warm rolls with feta, za’atar, tomatoes and olives. See, you can bring a little bit of Spain or Greece into your home too.
Also read:
- Aha! That’s why there’s a little tab on the olive oil bottle!
- Is cooking with olive oil really that bad?
- Olive oil in pasta water: fact or fiction?
Source: NOS
