Fishy low price reveals theft of R1mill worth of canned pilchards
R1mil worth of canned pilchards found in Vryheid had been stolen from a storage facility at the Durban harbour and were intended for delivery to a wholesaler in Rustenburg.
NEARLY R1 million of stolen canned fish was recovered in Vryheid thanks to the vigilance exercised by the managing director of a local wholesaler.
900 boxes of Supervalu canned pilchards, packaged and supplied by Gottlieb Foods, were offered to the local wholesaler at a cost that the managing director felt sounded… well, fishy.
The theft was discovered when he contacted his supplier to query the cost.
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Captain André van Ellinckhuyzen from Vryheid Crime Intelligence said the canned pilchards had been stolen from a storage facility at the Durban harbour and were intended for delivery to a wholesaler in Rustenburg.
Men who carried falsified documents indicating that they were collecting the fish on behalf of the Rustenburg wholesaler, fetched the canned fish from Durban harbour in an interlink truck and attempted to sell the fish in Vryheid.
“The managing director of the Vryheid wholesaler contacted his supplier, who first thought it may be counterfeit products. When the delivery arrived in Vryheid, the supplier confirmed that the fish was his product and the theft from Durban harbour was discovered.
“We will not touch stolen or counterfeit goods,” said the managing director, who asked that his name and the name of the wholesaler not be mentioned. “We are happy that the stolen stock never entered the market as this sort of dishonesty affects everybody in the FMCG industry.”
