Thieves’ new favorite: olive oil

While there has been a rise in prices for olives and olive oil, production of which is expected to decline by almost 40 percent this year in Greece, these products have become one of the new targets of thieves.

In Greek media news it was reported that the thieves exaggerated the situation, entered the olive groves and tried to steal the olives by picking them at midnight.

The news story stated that thieves entered an olive grove in Euboea, placed special covers under the trees and installed a simple transport mechanism to steal the olives they collected.

After a local resident reported it, the video in which the deputy mayor of Anthidonas, Kostas Karvunis, went to the scene at midnight and recorded, was shared on social media.

Realizing that the robbery attempts were noticed, unidentified people fled the scene, while the olives they collected to steal and the materials they left also appeared in the video.

Following the sudden decrease in production in Greece this year due to drought, olives and olive oil gained great value.

On October 3, 37 tons of olive oil were stolen from the warehouse of a cooperative operating in the Halkidiki region.

It was determined that the damage suffered by the cooperative exceeded 370 thousand euros.

A liter of olive oil, for which demand abroad has increased due to decreased production in Italy and Spain, sells in Greek markets for between 11 and 15 euros.