crime

1,000 peaches stolen from Fukushima orchard

44 Comments

About 1,000 peaces were stolen from an orchard in Fukushima city on Thursday, just before they were ready to be picked, police said.

According to police, the wife of the grower, a man in his 70s, discovered the peaches missing from five trees at around 5 a.m. Thursday, Kyodo News reported. The stolen peaches were the popular Madoka variety and were valued at around 160,000 yen.

The grower said the peaches were still on the trees on Wednesday afternoon.

The grower’s wife said she and her husband were heartbroken by the theft because the peaches were particularly good this year.

Police have stepped up patrols in several prefectures this year following a spate of fruit thefts since April. Fukushima is the second largest peach-growing prefecture after Yamanashi. August is the peak season for peaches.

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44 Comments
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Do they know who stole them?

I surely do.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

It’s probably one of those many smaller crimes done by poor pensioners or precarious low income workers. Some steel fruits or vegetables, others copper or other metal pipes and parts or some dismantle road side guard rails and so on. We’ll surely see more and more of it in the coming years. For them it’s no risk at all, they get the needed money from the crime for living expenses , food and accommodation or if ‘unluckily’ caught they are also fully accommodated and supplied in a prison.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@Tell_me_bout_it

I think I have never seen a barbed wire in Japan.

Go to one of the US military bases

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I remember going out into this big field of the seed corn near some woods and going to a small patch of land where my grandma used to plant her sweetcorn. We went to check on it, and she brought a pot and a transistor radio with her. It seemed strange but I didn't say anything, she was pretty old at the time. While we were there, my grandma examined the sweetcorn and she told me it would be ripe and ready to pick in a week or two. Then she turned on the transistor radio, turned it up nice and loud and put it under this pot in the middle of this patch of sweet corn. "What on earth are you doing, Grandma?" I asked her. She told me the raccoons were also waiting and would know when the sweetcorn was ripe and ready to eat too, and the radio would keep them away. The pot was to keep the radio dry if it rained. Simple but effective.

These Japanese farmers need to do something like this to keep these human varmints away. Maybe something like a movement sensor that would set off an alarm of some kind, or maybe one alerting the farmer in his home of the intruders.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Let's hope they catch those sons of peaches. The farmer is now in a financial jam.

Haha! Good one!

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

factcheckerAug. 12  05:17 pm JST

Let's hope they catch those sons of peaches. The farmer is now in a financial jam.

Didn't something like this happen at an apple orchard recently? And in order to pull off a heist like this, there has to be more than one involved here. I hope the thieves are caught soon, it hurts the farmers and it's uncalled for. Inexcusable.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Try stealing off a farm in other parts of the world and see what happens, regardless of what you’re stealing….and guess what, the law is on the FARMER’s side.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

‘Tis the Season

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Lazy &$!@?%s who can’t be bothered to work for their money and would rather rob off someone else.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Not just foreign trainees-

[ A farmer in his 50s in the city of Minami-Alps spotted a man stealing "Biocherries" -- a plum and cherry hybrid -- from a tree at around 8 a.m. on Aug. 2 when he arrived there for picking. He confronted the man and after finding the fruit in his bag, reported him to Yamanashi Prefectural Police's Minami-Alps Police Station.

The suspect, Kimio Mori, a self-described part-time worker from the neighboring city of Nirasaki, was arrested on the spot on suspicion of stealing nine Biocherries worth about 630 yen (approx. $4.70). ]

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220803/p2a/00m/0na/004000c

5 ( +10 / -5 )

Unfortunately the days of leaving everything out in the open and trusting everyone to respect another's property and livelihood are far behind us. I often saw in the past unmanned stalls selling fruits, veggies and even medaka aka killifish. Now people help themselves to these things without even paying. My wife's parents had their tomato and goya plants stolen recently as well.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

I feel sorry for the Farmer, in his 70's too - I hope he see's many crops ahead in the future (without interference).

Sadly, I guess he can't afford some basic security - such as motion detection lights, and/or camera - 5 trees is a pretty small number, but they nether-the-less, took many years to grow before bearing fruit.

I hope the culprits are found. Perhaps the guys selling Peaches off the back of their trucks in the streets, should be a first port of call for the Police, to verify how they came to be in possession of those peaches... just an idea/suggestion...

3 ( +4 / -1 )

A separate story, but the process is quite identical. The arrested Vietnameses have admitted to peach thefts in Yamanashi Pref. They were also monitored by CCTVs installed in the farms.

「山梨で桃を盗んだ」不法滞在の疑いで逮捕された外国人 関与ほのめかす 大量盗難があった畑周辺の防犯カメラに車や顔が映る

https://www.ybs.jp/tv/wnews/news120wxhu86v31cfy4pk0.html

Let's hope the latest case in Fukushima will also be solved.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

UPDATE: There is a separate case involving Vietnamese illegal overstayers. Police are now investigating any link with recent mass theft cases across local farms.

YuP, Here is the English:

The prefectural police, who are investigating a series of fruit theft cases in Yamanashi Prefecture , announced on the 11th that Nguyen Minh Tuan (39) and Le Cong Nhat (25) , both of Vietnamese nationality, are unemployed in Shinei-cho, Isesaki City, Gunma Prefecture . Both suspects were arrested red-handed on suspicion of violating the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (illegal overstay).

According to the Fuefuki Precinct, when the rooms of the two were searched on suspicion of stealing fruit, suspicions of illegal overstays were discovered.

https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASQ8D36Q5Q8CUZOB001.html

Exact match of the profile.

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

The people who commit the most crimes in the country are Japanese.

Oh Boy. Do I really have to really write a rebuttal to this statement? Please tell me that education in the west can't be this bad.

Anyway, yes the vast majority of crime that occurs in Japan are committed in Japan are Japanese because Japanese are 98% of the population. So if you have 100 crimes, 98 of the cases should be committed by Japanese because they are 98% of the population It is proportional to population.

But if you look at shoplifting and Farms thefts, Foreigners are committing 30% of the these types of crimes, but they are only 2% of the population. So they are out of proportion. Simply put, they are fewer foreigners but they are committing more crime compare to their numbers.

1 ( +9 / -8 )

UPDATE: There is a separate case involving Vietnamese illegal overstayers. Police are now investigating any link with recent mass theft cases across local farms.

1万4千個の桃窃盗に関与?ベトナム国籍の2人を不法残留容疑で逮捕

https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASQ8D36Q5Q8CUZOB001.html

1 ( +3 / -2 )

How exactly does one steal 1000 peaches in just a few hours in the middle of the night? And how do they transport it out without anyone noticing?

Do you how big a farm/orchard can be? 1000 peaches is about three boxes. It is easy to do.

-4 ( +4 / -8 )

Despite the fact that the thieves are never found, the news always reports foreigners as being the culprits. I wonder what this theory is based on.

It is not a theory. When they are caught, they are always Vietnamese. For example:

Police rearrest ex-trainees from Vietnam on pear-stealing charges

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14119183

0 ( +7 / -7 )

Next time, install security cameras

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

How exactly does one steal 1000 peaches in just a few hours in the middle of the night? And how do they transport it out without anyone noticing?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

More than the price of the peaches, what really gets me is how hard the farmers have toiled for this.

I really hope those thieving scmbags get what they deserve!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Well, isn't that the pits!!! No pun intended.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

As a novice gardener who grows kyoho and figs, I know how much effort goes into growing such a large crop of fruit. It must be heart-breaking for the farmer. It does happen a lot during picking season and farmers really should employ things like farm dogs, electric fences, and sensor alarms. Despite the fact that the thieves are never found, the news always reports foreigners as being the culprits. I wonder what this theory is based on. It's pear season now, so watch out for those in the news next week.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

usually on farmland, there are no fences of any type. Maybe in a few places with outdoor animals.

There is plenty of barbed wire, just not around farm fields.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Large scale thefts require equipment, organization, adequate storage facilities to keep the quality intact, and then the local connections to sell the looted material.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Dango bongToday  05:48 pm JST

ever head of barbed wire?

I think I have never seen a barbed wire in Japan.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Spitfire

I often go cycling in the countryside in Japan and I amazed at how many veggies I see dumped here and there to appease the Japanese farmers' JA masters.

The size and shape of fruit and veg are dictated by the stores and not the JA. There is also a quota and more is produced than the quota.

In our location, I see daikon and carrots in the farming fields and sometimes cabbages.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

To steal a growers livelihood, after many years of toiling their land is truly unforgivable and cruel.

These growers are the backbone of a J agricultural community that struggle to find a new generation to make such a commitment.

So to fleece them of there dedication and devotion is a reprehensible despicable crime

7 ( +8 / -1 )

ever head of barbed wire?

Guard dogs are very effective too.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Madoka peaches are available for about ¥300 each. 1000 of them would be less than 300,000.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Readers, the value of the stolen peaches was erroneously reported as 1.6 million yen. The correct figure is 160,000 yen. We apologize for the error.

Mr Kipling

Fruit theft, a crime that was almost unheard of until recently. Seemed to start at about the same time as the "trainee worker scheme". ..... I wonder if there is a connection?

I have lived here for 30 years, including in the fruit-growing Nagano prefecture. There have always been reports of fruit thefts during the summer and autumn.

People make easy pickings on the hard work of another.

5 ( +10 / -5 )

ever head of barbed wire?

1 ( +6 / -5 )

They will probably be sold online at full price to unsuspecting buyers. A compulsory licensing and records system for fruit and vegetable sellers would help weed out these criminal networks.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

That translates to £9.86 for one peach! I pay about £0.95 for a punnet of four or five, ripe and delicious. Therein lies the root cause of these thefts.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

This is totally unforgivable. One less than the death penalty for the scum who commit theft of other’s hard work.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

Often these fruit n veg thefts are done by foreign trainees, especially Vietnamese.

Replace the Japanese? Then you replace the Japan.

-1 ( +11 / -12 )

Spitfire.....

Since the government seems to care not at all about the recent price rises,the locals will have to take things into their own hands.

You think it was the locals? Local to where?

5 ( +9 / -4 )

@Peter14,

I totally agree with you.

I can't believe these thefts don't occur more often,to be honest.

An average peach costs between ¥|100 to ¥150 multiply that by a 1000 and not a bad night's work!

I think in the coming months as prices continue to skyrocket we will start to see more and more of these cases.

I often go cycling in the countryside in Japan and I amazed at how many veggies I see dumped here and there to appease the Japanese farmers' JA masters.

Since the government seems to care not at all about the recent price rises,the locals will have to take things into their own hands.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Let's hope they catch those sons of peaches. The farmer is now in a financial jam.

13 ( +15 / -2 )

With the price of fruit in Japan it is better than robbing a bank. Less security and bigger payoff. People are desperate.

9 ( +14 / -5 )

Fruit theft, a crime that was almost unheard of until recently. Seemed to start at about the same time as the "trainee worker scheme". ..... I wonder if there is a connection?

-1 ( +14 / -15 )

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