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The Republican National Guard, through the military from the Benavente Territorial Post, with the reinforcement of the Santarém Intervention Detachment, recovered last Friday, a ton and a half of stolen pineapples, which were stored in an uninhabited apartment in the town of Benavente . .
This apprehension took place in the field of Operation Safe Field, after a complaint that allowed the military to carry out several police actions that allowed the recovery of pine cones Pinus pinea L. (stone pine).
In addition to the pineapples, several tools used in the harvest were also seized, which were handed over to the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF).
In a statement, GNR reinforced that “the harvest of pineapples is prohibited between April 1 and December 1 and, although it is lying on the ground, its harvest is prohibited because it is closed”, by safeguarding the growth and development of pineapples and pine nuts and avoiding the harvest of seeds with poor germination capacity and poorly matured.
Jatropha is a forest species of growing economic interest, in which “the importance of foreign trade in pine and pine nuts has contributed to promoting important economic dynamics on a regional scale, since the pine nuts produced in Portugal are among the most valued for their nutritional characteristics ”, said this security force.
In 2019, as of November 28, more than 4,000 kilograms (kg) of stone pine cones were seized, nearly four times the amount seized in 2018, the GNR said.
In the first 11 months of 2019, 4,195 kg of stone pine cones were seized, which resulted in five offenses and five identified people, with no criminal history and no detainees, said this security force, in response to the Lusa agency.
The amount already seized during 2019, until November 28, represented almost four times the 1,123 kg of pineapples seized in the total of 2018, according to GNR data.
According to current legislation, the harvest of “pinus pinea” pineapples, a forest species that allows multiple uses, of which the production of pine nuts is the most valued, is prohibited outside the period from December 1 to March 31.
Nicknamed the “white gold” of the forests, the core of the pinhão in the national market has fluctuated in price, in recent years, between 79 euros / kg and 120 euros / kg.
Editorial with Agência Lusa
