A source close to law enforcement in Grenada has given THE NEW TODAY a graphic description of the theft of soursops from farmers from thieves operating mainly in the St George North-east constituency and a few of the exporters on the island.
He said the culprits are stealing soursop from several farmers who are literally afraid to complain to the authorities because they are fearful of reprisals from these “bad boys”.
He identified Willis, Boca, Beaulieu and Vendome as the villages where the soursop thieves are living.
“They have people driving around with them (to steal the soursops),” he said.
According to the informant, several of the persons selling soursops to the Exporters do not own any land.
He said the thieves are moving around in vehicles during the day, watching the lands with soursops and going back there late at night or very early in the morning to steal them.
He spoke of the culprits not going deep into a farmer’s land to steal soursop but focusing more on those trees that are close to the road so they could easily pick them and go.
The informant pointed out that the thieves will take about 10 or 15 soursops at a time from the land and put it in their waiting vehicles.
“Most of these things (soursops) are by the road – They don’t go down deep in the land. They will pass and take about 15 on that tree – they know where the tree is because they spotted it already earlier in the day,” he remarked.
He pointed an accusing finger at two outfits who are involved in the export trade as major facilitators of the theft of soursops from farmers.
He said the exporters are mandated by law to purchase agricultural produce from persons who have ID as farmers.
He suggested that the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) should have a presence on the days of the week when these exporters are purchasing soursops to export to Canada and the United States.
The source indicated that an astute police force should be aware of the time of the day that the Exporters are purchasing soursops and put systems in place to see who is going to these business premises to sell the produce.
“Soursop is Mr Soursop in America,” he said, adding that the thieves are now using different vehicles to bring the stolen produce to some of the exporters.
The informant pointed to a danger for Grenada if something went wrong with a shipment of soursops to North America.
“Let us assume that somebody poisoned their soursop – he killing all them people in the (United) States and that would be a burden on Grenada – so that has to stop,” he remarked.