AN ORCHARD owner in Trat province is bemoaning the loss of 1,200 durians stolen by a gang of thieves who cut them down from trees in his orchard from late last night till early this morning (Apr. 17), TV Channel 7 said.
Mr. Prasit Pholanan, 67, the owner of the eight-rai orchard in Khao Saming district said he had never had a problem of these durians being stolen.
However things are different this year with the thieves raiding his orchard at around 9 p.m. and when they left at 5 a.m. they took around 1,200 durians weighing 4,000 kilogrammes, or four metric tons, worth around 400,000 to 600,000 baht.
He urged Khao Saming police to quickly track down and arrest the thieves.
Prasit’s son even offered a reward of 100,000 baht to anyone helping catch the thieves.
Khao Saming police said there have been two cases of durian theft so far this month. The first theft occurred on April 9 when thieves stole 31 durians from the orchard of Mr. Sawang Chuen-arom, chairman of the Trat Provincial Agriculture Council, with Prasit being the second victim in this subdistrict.
CAPTION:
Top: Delicious Thai durian. Photo: Sanook.com
Home Page: One of the durian trees that was badly chopped by the thieves. The Thai headline says, “It’s spreading – thieves stealing durians.” Photo: TV Channel 7
Also read: Durian sparks ‘gas leak’ emergency in Australia store
Ripe Durian Day set for April 10
Durian with misspelled genus name sells like hot cakes
Incredibly low-priced ‘Golden Pillow,’ anyone?
Driving across the country to get some ‘vintage’ durian
Premium durian growers use barcode to fend off ‘fakes’
