Surat:
They weren't looking to keep vampires away - they just saw a good opportunity, and decided to sink their teeth into it.
Three men have been arrested in Surat in Gujarat for stealing garlic worth thousands.
"The price of garlic has gone above Rs 300 per kg...by stealing a sackful of garlic, these people easily made Rs 3000-4000," explained police officer Saheb Rao Bhaskar.
In the last month, garlic prices have gone from around Rs 200 per kilo to an all-time high of above Rs 300 per kilo due to unseasonal rainfall. Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat together contribute about 50 per cent of the country's total garlic production.
In fact, Imran, Arif and Rehman have confessed to stealing garlic worth more than Rs 50,000 from wholesale markets. They used to carry out recce of the retail and wholesale market and used to strike at peak rush hour, taking advantage of the fact that the dealers used to be busy with customers.
While garlic worth Rs 10,000 has been recovered, the rest was sold for a considerable profit. The three of them will soon be presented in court after which they will either be sent to jail or be let out on bail.
With food inflation soaring, vegetables are now worth their weight in gold, as any housewife can tell you. When even the humble garlic becomes a commodity worth stealing, the problem is clearly one of massive proportions.