Australia man found in possession of hundreds of stolen avocados

Avocados.
(Image credit: RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP/Getty Images)

An Australian man was found in possession of hundreds of stolen avocados when police searched his home in the rural town of Renmark on Thursday, BuzzFeed News reports. While the man was discovered to be in possession of other items that were claimed, including a canoe and an antique clock, the owners of the avocados could not be found.

Avocado thefts have plagued Australia's Riverland region, with nearly 1,000 of the precious green goods being taken from a fruit block in October 2016. In September 2014, $11,000 worth of avocados were illegally pulled from trees, The Advertiser reports.

Avocado thefts are a problem for Australia's neighbor, New Zealand, too. "We are seeing thousands of dollars of fruit stolen in a single hit and people's livelihoods are getting ruined," Western Bay of Plenty Police Sergeant Trevor Brown told The Guardian this week. "It is not like just stealing a couple of mandarins off your neighbor's tree, we take it very seriously."

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And to answer the inevitable lingering question about Australia's avocado thief: Yes, he was a millennial.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.