[mattduke]

"In western Kansas police are investigating almost a dozen incidents where thieves using tractor trailers stole wheat from grain elevators.

The thieves hit at least four grain elevators near the western Kansas town of Syracuse and made off with more than $50,000 worth of raw wheat. "

npr

[Twilight]

Crossposting my original comments from a different thread:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Twilight', 'R')eady transport, a waiting buyer in the business and not one minute spent in storage. Same as any other warehouse theft really.

As is customary, I condemn such activity.

That sort of thing is the bread and butter of crime in those parts of the world that have fallen on hard times. One anecdote I have heard from the FSU was of a timber pile disappearing. Its owner didn't think anyone would actually come along in a truck with lifting gear, but was wrong. He found it alright, it was spread all over town. I can't vouch for accuracy, but that sort of thing does happen once monthly incomes fall below the value of a portable quantity of common commodities.

Recessions create demand for this too; scrapyards will reject cash-in-hand offers of heavily discounted materials of unknown origin, but once enough are underwater, you can expect some to relax their standards a little. The economic conditions that create thieves also create unscrupulous buyers and dealers. The unspoken thread in every article on commodity theft is for every bit of growth in that activity, there is a legitimate business compelled by circumstances to ask fewer questions. Commodity thieves don't sell into a vacuum. Once you see that, you see the extent of hidden economic damage. So you can conclude that it is possible that someone in that line of business has begun to feel pain.

[pup55]

Yes, the hoarders/self sufficiency types should consider this.

Someone sufficiently determined, with a truck, can make off with a lot of good stuff out in the country. It's cold, It's dark, and some of this storage is out away from anybody.

Awhile back, people were stealing those big propane tanks. The farmers had them out running the irrigation pumps. These farmers are really vulnerable to having things ripped off.

[frankthetank]

Same problem with have a big orchard or a big garden. If its out in the open, good luck protecting it.

In an episode of CSI there was a scene where someone had a big mouse trap type thing with nails right by the stash of drugs...

A dog might work, but then you have to feed it and someone can still just shoot it...

[mattduke]

"Pakistani troops escort wheat trucks to stop theft"

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'P')akistani paramilitary troops have begun escorting trucks carrying wheat to stop supplies being stolen amid shortages of flour that have inflamed anger against the government before an election, an official said on Sunday.

Pakistanis are complaining bitterly about a shortage of wheat flour and rising prices of the staple food which the government has blamed on hoarding and smuggling to neighboring countries.

Farooq Ahmed Khan, chief of the National Disaster Management Authority, said some supplies had been going missing somewhere along the supply chain.

"It seemed there could be something wrong along the chain from warehouses to mills and then to distribution points," Khan told Reuters.

"Basically, we're providing escorts and will monitor the entire chain so there is no chance of pilferage," said Khan, whose authority is supervising the monitoring.

Authorities have also been given "special powers" to detain hoarders and smugglers, he said.

Khan said wheat stocks were sufficient and he described the flour shortage as "artificial". The government was monitoring borders to stop flour being smuggled out of the country, he said.