Dirty scoundrels in Bavaria have been up to no good, nabbing Christmas trees from sales stands like hotcakes. They've even made off with entire pallets of conifers during the dead of night, selling them illegally for a tidy profit.
This year alone, over 100 trees were pilfered from a Kaufland parking lot in Hildburghausen. The latest incident in a string of thefts, amounting to 250 trees, has left Dr. Christian Mai, a Christmas tree dealer in Thuringia, scratching his head.
Mai, the head honcho at "Thüringer Tannenhof" Christmas tree plantation in Wittchenstein (Saale-Orla district), is now considering employing some high-tech protection for his precious fir trees. In light of the spate of thefts, he plans to install video towers at his numerous sales and operating locations in Saxony (Dresden, Chemnitz and Zwickau) and Thuringia (Erfurt), hoping to deter further raids.
Despite reporting the theft of 100 high-quality Nordmann fir trees in Hildburghausen, Mai remains skeptical. "It will be stopped again, the trees have long since been sold and gone," he accepts reluctantly.
- In a bid to combat the surge in tree thefts, Dr. Christian Mai, a Thuringia-based Christmas tree dealer, is considering the installation of video towers at his sales and operating locations.
- The trend of Christmas tree thefts in recent years has left a trail of losses, with 250 trees reported stolen in 2023 alone.
- Dr. Mai expresses his doubts that the stolen trees in Hildburghausen will be recovered, as they have most likely already been sold on the black market.
Enrichment Data: While there's no clear consensus on the effectiveness of video towers in preventing Christmas tree thefts in Bavaria and Thuringia, based on general trends in crime prevention, these towers could potentially act as a deterrent. Their real-time monitoring capabilities and the potential for capturing evidence could aid in identifying and apprehending perpetrators. However, the success of such measures would depend on factors like the quality of the cameras, their placement, and the swiftness of law enforcement response.
