Tobacco worth $24,000 stolen in Windham

WINDHAM – A young Windham-area family took a hit in the pocketbook this week when thieves cut a large hole in a pack barn and made off with 14 large bales of cured tobacco.

Each bale weighs 750 pounds. Total value of the theft is estimated at $24,000. Dan Fernandes and partner Kendle Columbus of Windham Road 6 were not insured.  “I never thought in a million years that this would happen,” Fernandes said Thursday. “When I saw this my heart just sank.”   The theft occurred in the early morning hours of Wednesday. Whoever did the crime was well-organized and brazen. The thieves drove several vehicles up to the rear of the pack barn, cut a large hole in the back of it, and made off with a large amount of tobacco.  Fernandes, 30, was not insured. With his pack barn being less than 100 feet from his home, Fernandes didn’t think anyone would attempt an incursion like this. Fernandes was so confident about his situation that he decided this year not to pay the $700 premium to insure the contents of his pack barn. “Our offshore workers saw this and they were so upset,” said Columbus. “This was their hard work too. They had tears in their eyes. They asked ‘What kind of country is this?’”  Const. Ed Sanchuk of the Norfolk OPP says a crew of six would have been capable of hoisting the bales onto a truck. He suspects the tobacco has been shipped to a blackmarket producer of contraband cigarettes.

 

Sanchuk noted this was the third theft of its kind in the tobacco belt in recent weeks. He said farmers and their neighbours need to band together and look out for suspicious activity on each other’s property.   The OPP are interested in hearing reports of strangers snooping around farmyards or who come onto properties claiming to look for someone they believe lives in the area. Sanchuk said vehicle descriptions and licence numbers should be noted under these circumstances and passed along to police right away.  Fred Neukamm of Aylmer, chair of the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers Marketing Board, said growers should seek advice from the OPP if they have doubts about the security of their buildings. Neukamm added that growers should not confront the situation if they believe they have come upon a theft in progress.   “Personal and family safety comes first,” Neukamm said. “The most appropriate advice is to phone 911 and ask for the police immediately.”

http://www.tillsonburgnews.com/2013/10/31/tobacco-worth-24000-stolen-in-windham