As tomato prices hit roof, thieves see them as a lucrative option

Tomatoes in Mumbai have become so expensive that thieves are now targeting the vegetable, with rates fluctuating between ?140 and ?160 per kg in the retail market. The wholesale market is fetching ?70 per kg. The vegetable market has seen multiple instances of theft, with one thief being apprehended last week. The thefts are believed to be a result of the high cost of tomatoes in the retail market.

Mumbai: Tomatoes have become so expensive that thieves, instead of eyeing the usual cash or petty items, are now finding it more lucrative to steal the vegetable.

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In the wholesale market, tomatoes are fetching a rate of ₹70 per kg, but in the retail market, the rates are fluctuating between ₹140 and ₹160 per kg.

The vegetable market of Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), Vashi, which receives on average over 300 crates, each with 30 kilograms of tomatoes, has seen multiple instances of thefts of tomatoes and even managed to nab one thief last week.

A complaint has been filed at the APMC police station regarding an attempt made to steal tomatoes on July 14.

According to the complaint, a market security personnel found two men moving around with a sack filled with around 90kgs of tomatoes.

“At 2 am, while a security person was patrolling the market, he noticed two men struggling to carry a sack filled with tomatoes,” said Mahendra Mali, senior security officer.

“As the area where the duo was found loitering doesn’t operate until 5am, their movement appeared to be fishy.”

“On questioning, the duo failed to provide a convincing answer and were apprehended and taken to APMC police station,” added Mali.

The owner of these tomatoes was alerted and was asked to accompany them to the police station.

“We were aware of the theft as while emptying three crates of tomatoes, the thieves had dropped a crate, which made a loud noise,” said Babloo Mustafa, a vegetable vendor.

“Along with my workers, I had come downstairs to search for the thieves. However, by then the two were nabbed by the market security,” added Mustafa.

On Monday, the market had 30 tempos and four trucks loaded with a total of 325 crates of tomatoes arriving for sale.

“Usually, more tempos and trucks arrive as tomatoes come from Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka. However, due to incessant rainfall and flooding in these regions, the supply is less,” said KB Savalkar, deputy secretary of vegetable market.

“The tomatoes are now only arriving from various parts of Maharashtra and therefore, the escalation in their cost in the retail market, which has led to the instances of theft of tomatoes,” said Savalkar.

The attempt to steal tomatoes was also captured by a CCTV camera. “They claimed to have worked as loaders in the market and therefore, were aware of the location where the vendors used to keep their reserve goods,” said Mali.

“We have increased patrolling in the market vicinity and have even asked vendors to be on alert,” said Mali.

Meanwhile, Mustafa said there were similar instances of theft reported by other vendors.

“As tomatoes are presently very costly, they are targetted by thieves. This situation arises whenever rates of specific vegetable increases,” said Mustafa.

“Similar instances of thefts have happened with a few other vendors, but these are not reported as the thieves are seldom found,” added Mustafa.