Since last day 26 June and until 4 of December, within the scope of the “Campo Seguro 2023” operation, o Comando Territorial de Beja da GNR, seized 10 tons of olives stolen from the district's olive groves.
In a statement, CTBeja states that they were detained 62 people and identified 67 suspects, resulting from the 128 occurrences related to the theft of agricultural products, “as a result of the intensification of patrolling on agricultural holdings, enhancing crime prevention and reducing the number of olive thefts”, Justifies the Command.
The Guard adds that during the campaign, were realized 199 awareness-raising, encompassing 599 people and committing 376 Military.
In data recorded by Lidador Notícias (LN), according to CTBeja press releases, between 14 October and 28 November, in five municipalities in the Beja district, GNR arrested 28 people people involved in seven olive thefts, which resulted in the seizure of 1884 kilos of that fruit. Of these occurrences, the largest occurred in Castro Verde, last day 19 October, the Guard having seized 800 kilos of olives and three men and one woman were detained.
Those involved in the thefts are 18 men and 10 women, aged between 17 and 63 year old, that despite being detained in flagrante delicto, none of the defendants were presented before a Criminal Investigation Judge, with the cases being referred to the Courts of Almodôvar, Cuba, Moura, Ourique and Serpa.
The modus operandi of those responsible for thefts is always the same: They enter olive groves without the owners' authorization and collect olives both from the olive trees and from the ground. How the stolen product is disposed of, involves the existence of receivers that then drain the olives.
LN spoke to a farmer, that under anonymity, revealed that “the increase in the price of olive oil leads to an increase in the number of thefts. The middlemen (prescribers) buy stolen olives at a low price, between 35 and 40 cents, without wanting to know its origin, and then resell it to mills or transform it into olive oil illegally.”, justified.
The “Campo Seguro 2023” operation continues until 31 December and in addition to prevention and patrolling to prevent olive theft, GNR is also attentive to possible cases of human trafficking.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
