It may not compare to famous brazen robberies in Japan such as stealing 300 million yen and getting away with it. But a string of robberies in Ibaraki Prefecture are making headlines due to their unique target.
A farmer in Yachiyomachi in his 70s contacted police around 8am on the 18th when he noticed he was short some cabbage. Like, a lot of cabbage. Upon inspection, police discovered some 1,200 heads of cabbage had been cut off from their roots and carted off.
The stolen leafy greens are of the Touran cabbage strain and can catch up to 500 yen (USD $3.18) a head. That puts the total market value of the theft at around 600,000 yen (USD $3,808).
The farmer seemed slightly amazed at the theft. He said it would usually take a crew of four to five people around two hours to harvest that much cabbage.
“It took a lot of time to make those,” he told reporters. “I want them back.” He told another reporter he would be fine recovering the cash value of what had been stolen.
This isn’t the first strike against Ibaraki’s cabbage fields. On the same day, in the neighboring city of Yuiki, someone stole 840 heads from another field. Another theft on the 15th in Koga also netted 1,200 cabbages.
The prices of vegetables have shot up lately in Japan. Cabbages are no exception, with the average wholesale price skyrocketing to 245 yen for 1kg – a 3.6% YoY increase.
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