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As price of olive oil soars, chainsaw-wielding thieves target Mediterranean's century-old trees
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A global surge in olive oil prices – which have tripled since 2019 to set records – has presented criminals across the Mediterranean with an opportunity.
SPATA, Greece (AP) — In an olive grove on the outskirts of Athens, grower Konstantinos Markou pushes aside the shoots of new growth to reveal the stump of a tree — a roughly 150-year-old specimen, he said, that was among 15 cut down on his neighbor's land by thieves eager to turn it into money. Surging olive oil prices, driven in part by two years of drought in Spain, has meant opportunity for criminals across the Mediterranean. Warehouse break-ins, dilution of premium oil with inferior product, and falsification of shipping data are on the rise in olive-growing heartlands of Greece, Spain and Italy.