Spanish police have announced a seizure of stolen olives worth £430,000 from a warehouse owned by a legitimate wholesaler.
A total of 73,350kg of olives were found at the facility in Pilas, a small town 20 miles west of Seville, according to the Guardia Civíl.
Detectives believe they were pilfered during harvest season from groves across the Seville region by a gang connected to the warehouse owner.
Most of the olives were hidden in barrels – no less than 374 of them – though some were still stashed in sacks inside a car, waiting to be stowed away.
The haul was only uncovered after the gang was implicated in the disappearance of large amounts of copper used in crop irrigation systems.
The olives are said to have been delivered to the warehouse late at night to avoid drawing attention.
The warehouse owner allegedly soaked them in salted water so they wouldn’t be detected during routine inspections.
A source close to the investigation told local media: ‘We were very surprised that when we went to the warehouse the next day we found no trace of the transfer of those olives in daily activity.
‘We didn’t know that he had put them in brine. We did not expect to find so much volume.’
He has been placed under arrest, while four of his children are also being investigated for involvement in the processing and sale of the stolen goods.
Three more people have been arrested and a further three people are under investigation in connection with the plot.
The wholesaling business has been closed down and has also been accused of dumping waste on public roads.
Officials are trying to trace the shops and restaurants where the olives have been sold in order to assess whether they’ve been linked to health concerns.
Olives and olive oil have become prized targets for thieves in rural areas as they fetch higher and higher prices in supermarkets across Europe.
Spain is the world’s largest producer of both goods but both markets are suffering from a severe drought which happened at a crucial time in the growing season.
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