September 2, 2023 – Croatia is a very safe country. The crime rates are generally very low, and the people are friendly. Like anywhere else, incidents do happen, especially in crowded areas during the tourist season. Nothing too serious, though, no reason to spend a lot of time worrying about any personal belongings getting stolen or things like that. From time to time, however, people do become creative and help themselves to other people’s or public property. In that aspect, August in Croatia has been interesting.
Starting off with some wheat. In a small place in Slavonia called Ludvinci, the police recently found the thieves who harvested no less than 6 hectares of someone else’s wheat and disappeared. How come no one noticed them and where has the grain gone? The wheat belonged to an agricultural company from Vukovar, which ended up suffering a loss of five to six thousand euros. The residents of Ludvinci and neighboring villages were not willing to talk about the unusual theft much. Still, they say finishing 35 tons of wheat is a job and a half, writes SiB.
According to Đorđe from Bobota, “5-6 hours for a good machine to take it off, one person can’t do that. Transport is also necessary, a trailer at least”. The thieves did work hard, but it did not pay off in this case. The police conducted a criminal investigation based on the report and filed criminal charges against the suspects with the state attorney’s office.
“Two men aged 36 and 38 who are residents of Vukovar-Srijem County and Osijek-Baranja County committed the crime of theft to the detriment of an agricultural company from Vukovar,” said Dragoslav Živković, head of analytics and relations with the public of PU Vukovar-Srijemska.
The police say they were not that surprised, as they do encounter similar cases. They have witnessed thefts of tractors and fuel, cows and piglets, potatoes and beans, as well as kulen and sausages from the smokehouses.
Potatoes, Beans and Beets
On the topic of potatoes and beans, that is exactly what disappeared from another young man’s plot of land. As Jutarnji writes, a few hundred kilograms of potatoes, beans and beets “evaporated” from the land in Veliki Bukovac in the space of five days. An unknown person or several of them took advantage of the unstable and stormy August weather and decided to steal from to field of a 21-year-old. This unknown thief, eager for other people’s vegetables, caused damage of 1,900 euros to the owner.
The young farmer decided to turn to the Varaždin police for help, and the search for the thief began. Where more than half a tonne of vegetables has gone, however, may never be discovered.
Copper from the Railway
In more theft news, an unknown perpetrator cut and stole 250 m of contact wire and 250 m of supporting rope from the freight track at the railway station in Vinkovci. And all this from a height of at least 4.5 m, the Vukovar-Srijem police informed SiB.
According to the compensation request submitted by the responsible representative, the damage was estimated at several thousand euros. The police officers of Vinkovci have received a criminal report which they will send to the competent state attorney’s office. They are searching for the thief.
