Robbers make off with an estimated 11 tons of elderberries in Austria

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A group of thieves worked hard for its haul this week in eastern Austria, picking a plantation’s entire crop of elderberries without the owner noticing.

The smooth robbers made off with an estimated 11 tonnes of berries, worth about 6,000 euros ($7,500), local police said Saturday.

The owner of the plantation in Deutsch Jahrndorf, close to the Hungarian border, only noticed his berries had disappeared when he went to harvest them himself on Friday.

The thieves, who cut an opening in the perimeter fence to access their target, had probably been at work since Monday, police said.

They even came back for more in the night of Friday to Saturday.

Given the size of the loot, police suspected several offenders were involved in the nighttime picking.

The berries were of a special variety used in the pharmaceutical industry and as colouring agents.

(image via WikiMedia Commons)