Some 2,750 pears, valued at 300,000 yen, were stolen from an orchard in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Tuesday, police said, adding it is the second case of pear theft in the prefecture this month.
On Aug 2, 3,200 pears, worth about 870,000 yen, were stolen from trees in Kasama, Sankei Shimbun reported. In both cases, the pears were stolen just before they were about to be picked.
According to the prefectural police, the latest theft occurred in a 2,000-square-meter orchard between 5 pm on Tuesday and 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Police are urging fruit growers to take stronger crime prevention measures, such as installing security cameras and lights that turn on when sensors detect intruders. There were no security cameras installed at the Tsuchiura orchard.
© Japan Today
13 Comments
Login to comment
englisc aspyrgend
Well, they could make some nice Perry with them!
kurisupisu
Not the usual suspects?
BgirlKai
From a certain South East Asian country?
Lepyon
How did they count them if they are missing?
wallace
How long to pick 2750 pears? 30 seconds per pear. About 23 hours. A team of four, maybe. They worked all night undetected.
wallace
Mr Kipling
Then they have to sell them. It is unlikely the thieves would turn up at the local agricultural cooperative or local wholesaler without being at least suspicious. Someone else is obviously in on this crime.
Mr Kipling
Or Estimate from the farmer based on his insurance claim?
wallace
The gang already had a buyer or was being paid by a buyer. The pears must move very quickly.
Probably the farmer does not have insurance.
obladi
Every year the same story. It’s gotta be the same people stealing. I mean, how else would you fence over 2,000 pieces of fruit?
Martimurano
Quite a worrying discrepancy in this case of the missing pears - the pears from the Tsuchiura orchard are worth only 109¥ each, whereas they're claiming the pears stolen from the Kasama orchard are valued at 271¥ each......
Just goes to show, no two pears are the same.
Pukey2
No pear should be sold over a 100 yen. Daylight robbery. I wonder whether the business will go pear-shaped.
nandakandamanda
Probably those hard round crunchy apple-shaped Japanese Nashi pears.