3.7 tons of newly harvested rice stolen from storehouse in Ibaraki Prefecture

even if he had the storehouse unlocked, it would take some time to steal that many grain and would make a lot of noise. stories of grand theft agriculture such as this always makes me feel sorry for the farmer who painstakingly grew these only to be stolen.

I live among rice paddies. I witness the sheer backbreaking work these farmers do. This sad.

approximately 3.7 tons of shinmai, 

As the stolen amount is pretty big, there must have been a group of people involved. Similar cases of stealing local agricultural products (cherries, spinach, pears, pigs (!) all in big amount) have been happening these days. I'm afraid they are still under-reported.

How do you even fence something like this?

I think it would be very easy. You just bag it up, preferably with bags bought from different home centers and sell it to anyone wanting a deal. A single restaurant could easily go through 3.7 tons in a few months. There is no need to ship it overseas. Stealing this is a lot of work for a fraction of 800.000 yen, but you get something untraceable.

There are cars worth more than that sitting all over the place unlocked, but fencing them is far more difficult.

HBJToday  08:16 am JST

Something seems strange to me about this story.

Who would steal 3.7 tons of rice and what would they do with it?

Criminal syndicates can easily sell it for an easy profit. Naturally they don't care about the people's lives they damage (and obviously they are the ones with the organization and resources to pull off such heists).

How do you even fence something like this?

Beats me why anybody would leave such valuable goods unprotected. A minimum of crime prevention (a solid lock, for one thing) might have helped.

Lowlife scum. If the thieves are caught, I hope the lot of them are forced to WORK on the farm through each harvest season until they recover the amount they stole. Might make them think twice about doing it again when they see how much work it takes.

Agree with Kohakuebisu on this.

This happens every year and has been discussed on this forum before.

In a case I recall a few years back, the culprits were caught and the case involved a "stealing to order".

Details I forget, but certain businesses like restaurants, small independent super markets etc "place an order" for X tons of high quality rice and it's supplied at way below market value giving considerable savings to the business.

For arguments sake if the said rice was sold for a bargain @ ￥400,000 and 4 men were involved in the stealing (quite realistic) then they'd score ￥100,000 each for an evenings work.

But in this case there could be other scenarios, just that no one probably wants to sit on tons of rice for very long.

800,000 seems like a paltry sum for the risks of such undertaking. What ? ~ ¥200 a kg ? But then, what do I know ?

Criminal syndicates...

@moonbloom - Of course, that makes complete sense. My brain clearly wasn’t working properly this morning!

HBJToday  02:48 pm JST

Criminal syndicates...

@moonbloom - Of course, that makes complete sense. My brain clearly wasn’t working properly this morning

.Yeah mornings after a national holiday hehe.

As mentioned above criminal syndicates have no problem unloading the rice to restaurants, especially when you consider that the yakuza own a lot of the restaurants, bars, etc. For them it's a great way to dramatically increase their profits.

The North Koreans did it

That's sad and shameful when one is out stealing food.

Like stealing food out of a baby's mouth

Not unless they actually stored the rice in a baby's mouth.

"With the rice harvesting season under way, thieves have stolen approximately 3.7 tons of shinmai, or newly harvested rice, worth about 800,000 yen, from a farmer’s storehouse in Kamisu City, Ibaraki Prefecture."

Well, that's why it was stolen -- rice here is extremely overpriced to begin with. Were it sold at its actual worth, or at least what you can get it at elsewhere (and please, spare me the "Japanese rice is the greatest" stuff -- it is not, and it's been proven time and again even "professionals" in taste tests can't tell the differences well, if at all), it would likely not have been stolen. I hope the guy has some sort of insurance, because as sorry as I feel for him, it's a whole lot worse if he doesn't.

This rice is already on a ship to a "nearby" overseas location to be sold on the blackmarket by organized crime to wealthy elites.

Not likely. Very easy to sell locally, while it's very difficult to send overseas. Food imports require extensive documentation in most countries, there is little demand for expensive Japanese rice overseas, and those who do buy it are not bargain hunters

In Japan, it can simply be bagged up and sold at any number of markets or vegetable stands - no questions asked.

I wou'd think of stealing something else at much higher price by entering a home and stealing anything worth of value within a minute in the countryside.

More valuable items are generally better protected, harder to steal and harder to sell at anywhere near the usual price. You might get 10% of the market price for a stolen Rolex, and it's not always easy to find a buyer - not to mention some people may get suspicious and report you if you try to sell the item. Stolen rice can be sold near market value, there are plenty of buyers. Easy to find a wholesaler who doesn't ask questions - and this group probably already had the sale all lined up.

This rice is already on a ship to a "nearby" overseas location to be sold on the blackmarket by organized crime to wealthy elites.

Sad for farmer. Not sure a lock would have slowed down these people. Just glad he was not there when the criminal gang rolled up in the truck(s). He could have been killed.

I wou'd think of stealing something else at much higher price by entering a home and stealing anything worth of value within a minute in the countryside.

Thieves must have sweat a lot.

No trace of tyres ? Of shoes ?

A simple 1000 yen alarm could ring when opening door LOL

Something seems strange to me about this story.

Who would steal 3.7 tons of rice and what would they do with it?

haynedaToday  

This rice is already on a ship to a "nearby" overseas location to be sold on the blackmarket by organized crime to wealthy elites.

That's what I thought.

Inside job.