The Times May 01, 2006
From Graham Keeley in Barcelona
HIGHLY organised criminal gangs have stolen hundreds of thousands of litres of Spanish olive oil, as prices for the “green gold” have reached record levels.
In a series of raids on olive oil factories in Andalusia, at least 300,000 litres of one of Spain’s most valuable products were stolen. In the latest, thieves used saws at the weekend to cut pipes and siphon off 100,000 litres into lorries at El Olivo plant in Vilches, near Jaén, Andalusia.
Similar raids have been carried out in Málaga and Córdoba. Police believe that the oil is diluted, bottled and sold elsewhere in Spain or sent to Japan or Russia, where extra virgin olive oil sells for as much as €20 (£14) a litre. Thieves have reacted to a huge price rise after a poor harvest. Olive oil, a key ingredient in every Spanish kitchen, costs up to €5 a litre in supermarkets, an increase of 44 per cent in a year.
Thieves broke into the Pontanense olive oil co-operative in Andalusia and spent three hours emptying the facility’s supplies, pumping about 25,000 litres into each of five lorries. The owners lost 120,000 litres in all, worth about €500,000.
Julián Logroño, the president of the co-operative, said: “It is incredible. It had to be the work of a well-organised gang.”
In February a gang stole 120,000 litres from the Nuestra Señora del Rosario co-operative, in Humilladero, near Málaga. José Luis Toledano, the president of the Andalusia Federation of Agrarian Companies, said that some producers were afraid to report thefts to police, fearful of reprisals from Eastern European mafias.
