On the occasion of the implementation of the service devices promoted by the Government Delegation in Extremadura within the Plan of Actions against theft and theft of olives in the present campaign 2023/2024, the Civil Guard and the Junta de Extremadura (Service Extremeño of Public Health and Food Quality, as well as the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Sustainable Development), intensify and coordinate joint inspections at the points of reception of this fruit.
Actions with which last week the alleged irregular actions that would be taking place in a stand for the purchase of olives in the municipality of La Parra were detected, where entries of this product were found without documentation that guaranteed its origin, so that its origin was not verified
traceability.
Traceability guarantees the safety of food intended for human consumption, and gives transparency to the chain of processes that a food product undergoes.
Documentation that would allow to check the origin of the same both in the reception phase and during the transport phase, with the possibility of finding and following its trail through all the stages of production, transformation and distribution of the fruit.
Supposedly the person in charge would try to give them a legal image, camouflaging the deliveries with other items received in other posts.
On the same day, it was found that a lorry had just left the establishment whose documentation covered the transport of 16,000 kg of olives. Vehicle that was intercepted when it was driving through the municipal area of Almendralejo.
When the documentation accompanying the load was inspected, it was observed that it reflected a different amount than the one recorded at the exit of the stand and that it justified some 26,000 kilos of olives.
Once the weighing was carried out, it was possible to know the true amount transported that was 29,000 kilos, there being a considerable gap between the amount transported and the amount legally guaranteed in documents, so it was immobilized cautiously, since it did not guarantee the traceability of the product during transport.
Within the framework of the open administrative procedure, this fruit is currently being held captive, waiting for its owner to document its traceability and the measure can be lifted or, if not, its destruction or other purpose determined by the competent authority is proposed.
Among the services established since the beginning of this campaign, there have been intensified tasks of surveillance and support of patrols in the prevention of theft and robbery with reinforcement of citizen security patrols, as well as agents of the Air Service, Cavalry Squadron and even with the use of drones.
As a result of this coordination, in this last week two unrelated actions were developed.
Four people were surprised when they were removing olives in terms of Almendralejo and Villagonzalo. Two of them were involved with 150 kilos of olives that they had just collected and transported in a tourism.
The other two were tried to identify the exit of an olive grove when they were travelling in a vehicle, at which time they fled and were intercepted shortly afterwards.
In the tourism inspection, they found the collapsed rear seats where they loaded 860 kilos of olives that they ended up subtracting from a Villagonzalense agricultural farm. People who could also be implicated in another similar event that they had allegedly perpetrated in another exploitation of the same municipality where they seized another 2,000 kilos.