Rice Thefts on the Rise in Japan Black Market
<i> Associated Press</i>
TOKYO — Rice robbers are on the loose in Japan.
With this year’s crop devastated by an unusually cold summer, nervous farmers have begun nightly patrols to guard their grain against black marketeers seeking to cash in on a shortage.
Rice thieves attack every year in Japan, but police say thefts are on the rise this year. Plunderers have already made off with nearly 100 tons of rice worth $326,000.
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