Hive heists: why the next threat to bees is organized crime

Pollination has become big business, and thieves are now targeting hives with growing sophistication in the US

Mike Potts was aware he was at risk of being a victim of crime, he just didn't think it would happen to him. But Potts is an owner of an increasingly valuable commodity that thieves are targeting with growing sophistication in the US: bees.

A booming demand for honeybees for pollination drew Potts, owner of Pottsy's Pollination in Oregon, to load 400 hives of his bees on trucks and drive them down to California's agricultural heartland last month. He unloaded them to a holding area just outside Yuba City and returned just a few days later to find 92 hives had been whisked away by thieves.