To pull off the perfect crime one has to minimize risk while maximizing the yields. If you’re going to rob a bank you’ll have to put up with safes, cameras, random customers, polite staff and a quick police response.
So who is sitting on a goldmine but least expecting to get robbed? While not as expensive as more authentic melons, watermelons go for a rather high price in Japan. However, you’d have to be crazy to try and steal a bunch of watermelons… Right?
At around 3:10 in the afternoon on 26 May in Chikusei City, Ibaraki Prefecture. A watermelon farmer was doing the rounds and noticed that the Kadoma Watermelons in Greenhouse Number 7 were missing.
After being called to the scene, police ascertained that about 700 of the fruits had been stolen, with a total value of approximately 350,000 yen (US$3,500). They also learned that at least until 23 May nothing had been out of the ordinary. However, none of the greenhouses used locks.
In an interesting twist, the stolen watermelons were taken from Greenhouse Number 7, yet Greenhouse Number 1 had 800 fruits in it. However, these particular thieves must have had some knowledge of citrullus lanatus cultivation because they had targeted the ones which were closest to harvest.
And so Japanese society sinks a little deeper, and we can only look back and lament the end days when we could leave our watermelons unlocked.
Source: Sponichi Annex (Japanese)
Image: Wikipedia – Steve Evans
