# Avocado shortage fuels crime wave in New Zealand **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 15, 2016, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-shortage-fuels-crime-wave-in-new-zealand/757471 "2016-06-15T22:21:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2016, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-shortage-fuels-crime-wave-in-new-zealand/757471/1 "2016-06-15T22:21:01Z")
Yeah, I saw that headline and I had to think about that Farside cartoon, the one about a meeting of the bird mafia with the big crime bird saying: “Have all the boids arrived?” I pictured a gangster war that was only missing the Kiwis :p… And now they are here. But the avocado stealing has not gone Al Capone style… yet. > **[Avocado shortage fuels crime wave in New Zealand](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/15/avocado-thieves-shortage-crime-fruit-black-market-new-zealand)** > > Thieves capitalise on booming black market for the fruit amid soaring demand > [@](#): > > Surging local and international demand for avocados is fuelling a crime wave in New Zealand. > > Since January there have been close to 40 large-scale thefts from avocado orchards in the north island of New Zealand, with as many as 350 fruit stolen at a time. > > It is suspected many more thefts have gone unreported. > > Avocados are selling for between NZ$4-6 each (£2-3) across the country, after a poor season last year and increasing local demand. > > According to New Zealand Avocado in 2015 an additional 96,000 New Zealand households began purchasing avocados, and local growers – largely geared towards the lucrative export market – have been unable to keep up with the surge in demand. > > The recent thefts have taken place in the middle of the night, with the crop either “raked” from the tree and collected in blankets or sheets on the ground, or hand-picked and driven away to pop-up road-side stalls, grocery stores or small-scale sushi, fruit and sandwich shops in Auckland. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2016, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-shortage-fuels-crime-wave-in-new-zealand/757471/2 "2016-06-16T20:43:33Z")
I hope my California roll at lunch didn’t support NZ organized crime! ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-shortage-fuels-crime-wave-in-new-zealand/757471/3 "2016-06-16T22:06:10Z")
If your avocado came from Mėxico, you may be supporting organized crime. In the state of Michoacán, the narco people have decided avocados have a price. They are selling fire insurance to the avocado farmers. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-shortage-fuels-crime-wave-in-new-zealand/757471/4 "2016-06-16T22:45:16Z")
Man, too bad for Mexico, [maybe they should had picked the polar bears.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MALBpyJufF0) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-shortage-fuels-crime-wave-in-new-zealand/757471/5 "2016-06-16T23:43:18Z")
Just steer clear of African blood avocados! ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-shortage-fuels-crime-wave-in-new-zealand/757471/6 "2016-06-17T04:49:05Z")
Forty thefts with “as many as” 350 stolen at a time? I wouldn’t call that a “wave.” Well, maybe in New Zealand that’s a wave… ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-shortage-fuels-crime-wave-in-new-zealand/757471/7 "2016-06-17T14:01:37Z")
You see, if they just legalized avocados they wouldn’t have all this crime. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-shortage-fuels-crime-wave-in-new-zealand/757471/8 "2016-06-17T15:11:56Z")
Do California avocados come from Mexico? Avocados are on everything here!