SCHAGEN – Possibly the same suspects who stole two tons of avos from Killarney’s last week struck again on Wednesday.
This time, on the neighbouring farm called Maatjie.
ACS Security recently attended to a case at Killarney, part of the Geoff Twycross Trust in Schagen Valley, where trees were stripped of two tons of avos in a matter of hours. According to Johan Kriel of ACS, an unknown number of suspects gained entry to the property by cutting the fence.
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The haul is estimated to be worth thousands. These two tons represent income for this farm and as a result they have suffered significant losses. The avos are yet to be recovered, nor have any arrests been made.
While on routine patrols during in the early hours of Wednesday, ACS Security’s dedicated reaction vehicle in the Schagen Valley picked up movement in the avo orchids on the neighbouring farm.
They responded and found two vehicles with stolen fruit from a non-client neighbouring farm. One vehicle was confiscated and approximately 2,5 tons of avos were recovered with the assistance of Nelspruit SAPS.
Upon the reaction officer’s arrival, between nine and 11 suspects emerged and got onto a getaway vehicle. The driver of the second vehicle, a rented Kia truck, remained behind.
The reaction officer took the truck’s keys, and gave chase, but the suspects got away. Upon his return, the driver had also ran away. No arrests have been made, but the vehicle has been confiscated for further investigation.
Another avo theft was foiled in the Kiepersol area on Monday, when Hi-Tech Security caught suspected thieves red-handed. The suspects managed to escape.
No avocados are harvested locally during these months, and those available in stores are imported at great expense – hence the inflation of prices.
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Thieves usually hit before the harvesting begins. Macadamia harvesting season also starts next month, and the theft of the valuable nuts is expected to increase sharply.
The illegal trade is estimated to cost the economy hundreds of millions of rand annually.
According to the South African Macadamia Growers’ Association, there had been various attempts to estimate the total tonnage of stolen macadamia, and that these figures ranged from between 1 000 and 4 000 tons in 2016.
