Sticky fingers: The rise of the bee thieves | Brett Murphy

Bees have become a billion-dollar business. But who would try to steal them?

The bees crawled up the thief's arms while he dragged their hive over a patch of grass and through a slit in the wire fence he had clipped minutes earlier. In the pitch dark, his face, which was not covered with a protective veil, hovered inches from the low hum of some 30,000 bees.

The thief squatted low and heaved the 30kg hive, about the size of a large office printer, up and on to the bed of his white GMC truck. He had been planning his crime for days. He knew bees - how to work them, how to move them, and most importantly, how to turn them into cash.

Continue reading...