Meat and no veg

US: Prices for vegetables have risen sharply this spring as a result of freezing weather in Mexico. Consumers have had to pay up or do without. Now there’s a new threat: vegetable thieves.

In late March, large shipments of Florida tomatoes and cucumbers, worth over $300,000, were stolen by a gang of robbers. Insiders say the high prices make vegetables almost as attractive to thieves as televisions or designer jeans. One major drawback is that vegetables have a short shelf life.

“I’ve never experienced people targeting produce loads before,” says Shaun Leiker, assistant manager at the Florida trucking brokerage Allen Lund. “It’s a little different from selling TVs off the back of your truck,” Leiker told the International Herald Tribune.

Shaun Leiker

"It's a little different from selling TVs off your truck." 

Police and transportation officials say the vegetable gang seemed to know the trucking industry well. They set up their own trucking firm, called E&A Transport Express, and were based in Miami. According to David M. Vincent of the Florida Highway Patrol's cargo-theft task force, the company was registered in late February with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Although produce thefts are not unheard of, this gang was particularly skilled. “We’ve never seen anything like this,” says Bob Spencer of West Coast Tomato in Palmetto, Florida. Spencer’s company lost about 18,000 kilograms of tomatoes, valued at about $42,000.

“This was definitely a smart organization,” says Clifford Holland, who owns the transportation brokerage Old North State. “They were just sitting and waiting, watching the produce because they knew [the price] was climbing. It was like a snake in the grass and they struck.” The thieves have not yet been identified.