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Russians Stung In Stolen Bee Case

beekeeper wikiA beekeeper from Montana lost his hives to bee rustlers in California, earlier this year. He never expected to see them again and suspected that Ukrainian-Russians may have been behind the heist.

He turned out to be right. Two Ukrainian-Russians have now been charged with possession of stolen property – over $150,000 in beekeeping equipment and hives.
In January of this year, there were 10 victims of bee theft across seven California counties. Law enforcement officials believe that Ukrainian-Russians have turned to agriculture thefts, particularly bees, to fund organized crime rings.

Several weeks ago, a hired hand at a bee farm noticed that one of the hives matched the description of the hives reported stolen by his friend in Missouri. The Missouri beekeeper flew to California and contacted local law enforcement. He had matching photos of his stolen hives and that was when the investigation really got going.

There were three properties connected to the alleged thieves. Fresno detectives uncovered hives from 10 different victims on the properties and made two arrests. They expect more arrests and charges may be coming, as the investigation is still ongoing.

The beekeeper from Montana received a photo from a California beekeeper, who was working with law enforcement. He recognized his equipment from the photo then flew to California and identified the equipment as his. Of the $224,000 worth of bees and equipment, he was able to recover about $170,000 worth. The hives were put on trucks and are now back home in Montana.