Beehive thefts rife in New Zealand

NEW ZEALAND – New Zealand’s bees are being stolen and traded by organised crime syndicates seeking to profit from skyrocketing honey prices thanks to surging demand in China, police and beekeepers say.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s beekeeping or meth, this is just the new gold rush,” Laurence Burkin, apiarist manager at The True Honey Co in Dannevirke, north of Wellington, and himself a victim of hive thefts, said.

Beehive heists are rising, with 400 bee or honey thefts reported in the six months to January, New Zealand Police said, without providing figures for previous periods.

“There is nothing to suggest at this stage that beehive theft is directly linked with a particular gang, but we do believe this offending is organised and likely being carried out by groups,” said Senior Sergeant Alasdair MacMillan.

The crime spree comes while New Zealand’s honey industry is booming.

Exports jumped 35 per cent to NZ$315 million i n the year to June according to the Ministry of Primary Industry, with about a third of that sold to mainland China and Hong Kong.

Apiarists said soaring prices for native manuka honey, which official figures show has tripled in value since 2012, is driving the rise in bee-related crime.

“It’s rife. Honey is overpriced, it’s ludicrous. There’s easy money being made if you buy and sell hives,” said Bruce Robertson, managing director of Haines Apiaries in Kaitaia.

A native product prized for its antibacterial properties as much as the taste, manuka honey fetches as much as NZ$148 per kilogram, government figures show, with a hive worth as much as $2000. - RNZ