Fruit producers in the Algarve are “in despair” over the growing string of thefts at their orchards which is costing them thousands of euros.
Last Friday, GNR police caught two Romanian men who had stolen €5,000-worth of pears from an Algarve orchard.
“These are organised groups that are feeding a parallel market,” Pedro Madeira from Algarve fruit producers group FRUSOAL told TSF radio.
Producers want authorities to deal more “effectively” with these thefts, or they warn that “something bad may happen soon”.
