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APPLES: Apple cultivation along Eikeren in Øvre Eiker municipality taken in 2017. Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB
For several years, apple growers have put apple juice, juice and fruit at stands along the roads in Hardanger without a hitch, but now a gang has started stealing, police believe.
People who stock up at the stalls are invited to drop money in a box or on the incline, writes Bergens Tidende.
Apple producer Kjetil Lerfall in Alsåker in Hardanger is among those who trust people and believe they pay for their own apple cheese. Until last weekend things have gone well, but then my safe was stolen with today’s turnover.
– Most people pay with Vipps, and mostly there are only a few hundred crowns and change in the box. It’s the breach of trust that worries me. It damages Hardanger’s reputation, says Lerfall, who thinks the situation is sad.
The stalls are an important brand for Hardanger, he believes, where cherries, plums, jams and juices are also often sold.
Police believe that some have taken systematic action against small producers around Alsåker, Utne and inland Sørfjord. In some places only money had disappeared, while in other places both money and goods had disappeared.
– We believe that the case is serious precisely because it is a scheme based on trust between farmer and client. We want to maintain this relationship of trust and therefore seek leads in the case, says Police Superintendent Øystein Torsnes at the Hardanger Sheriff’s Office.
He says it takes three to four years between each time the police receive a report of theft at self-service stands.
