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| APNewsBreak: Thieves targeting California almonds, walnuts |
The adult organizations in abounding cases use high-tech tactics, hacking into trucking companies to abduct their identity. Armed with apocryphal addition papers, they affectation as accepted truckers, active off with endless of basics such as almonds, walnuts or pistachios admired at $150,000, and some account $500,000 each.
Days later, if a addition fails to access to its advised destination, the basics may already be in addition accompaniment or on a address destined for Europe or Asia, area they back top dollar on the atramentous market, authorities say.
Last year, nut thefts hit an best top in California — with losses accretion $4.6 actor from 31 appear cases, added than the three antecedent years combined, according to CargoNet, an accord of burden addition firms and law administration agencies aimed at preventing losses.
Losses for all four years accumulated were about $7.6 million, the accumulation reports.
"It's fabricated my activity miserable," said Todd Crosswell, accepted administrator of Caro Nut Co.
Caro was victimized six times endure year for a absolute accident of $1.2 million. In anniversary case, thieves blanket cashews alien from Vietnam and Africa that were roasted, absolute and packaged in Fresno.
"You get hit with that affectionate of accident — it hurts," Crosswell said.
The amount of basics developed and candy in California, the nation's arch agronomical state, accept soared in contempo years as all-around appeal for the health-food bite grows in places such as China and arising economies.
California produces added almonds, walnuts and pistachios than any added accompaniment with a accumulated amount of $9.3 billion in 2014. Almonds abandoned were admired at $5.9 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The top amount of basics affective the absorption of bent organizations, who are base weaknesses in the burden addition industry to acquire big profits, said Dan Bryant, authoritative appropriate abettor for the agitated and organized crimes programs of the FBI Sacramento office.
Bryant beneath to analyze any organizations beneath suspicion, citation an advancing bent investigation. "It's not just some boyish kids ripping off nuts," he said. "These are adult people."
Local authorities are aswell demography action. One accompaniment administrator has alien a bill to armamentarium a statewide taskforce targeting all types of burden thefts. And law administration admiral and nut processors are affair Thursday to allotment advice to advice anticipate added nut thefts.
Alarmed by a fasten in all-embracing nut thefts, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux endure year beefed up his agronomics crimes assemblage from two to six detectives.
In 2013, his appointment advised a $189,000 pistachio theft. No cases were appear the next year, but in 2015, six endless of almonds and pistachios were baseborn at a accumulated accident of $1.6 million.
Investigators tracked at atomic one amount to Los Angeles and fabricated one arrest. Boudreaux beneath to name the doubtable due to the advancing investigation.
"They do tend to accept some across connections," said Scott Cornell, an investigator for Travelers Insurance and an able on burden thefts. "Wherever they can advertise it and move it they're traveling to."
Crosswell said he's put in abode new safeguards with hopes he doesn't abatement victim already more, demography photographs and feel prints of the almost 25 barter drivers anniversary day that cull up to the addition docks. Despite these effort, Crosswell said he fears the abyss will bang again.
"Whoever they are, they're watching," Crosswell said. "They'll try it again. They'll amount out how to exhausted the system. We just accept to break one footfall advanced of them."
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