A fuming Australian gardener has branded a late-night plant thief “despicable” and called for the alleged robber to “get a job”, after his property was targeted twice in the last three weeks — with the brazen act caught on home security camera.
Andy Luke, from the Adelaide suburb of Eden Hills, said both he and his neighbours had repeatedly been targeted by the thief in recent weeks, but because the CCTV footage did not capture the offender’s face or vehicle registration, there’s little police can do until they strike again.
Speaking to Yahoo News, a South Australian Police spokesperson asked the public for help. “Police are investigating the incident and ask anyone who may have witnessed suspicious activity in the area to call Crime Stopper,” they said.
Andy told 7News he had put a lot of effort into his newly planted garden but has since seen parts of it disappear overnight, while his neighbour has also lost some irrigation equipment alongside their own plants.
Home security footage captured the figure hauling several English hedges from the garden after 2am on Monday. Source: 7News
CCTV footage shared with the network shows a hooded figure ripping several plants from the ground in the early hours of the morning on Monday, May 19. While a companion keeps watch, the thief removes numerous English hedges from the ground before making off with the haul at about 2.20am.
“It’s pretty despicable, I’ve put a lot of work into this,” Andy told 7News. “Instead of driving around at 2 o’clock in the morning, get a life and get a job and buy your own plants.”
Andy believes the alleged robber is selling the plants elsewhere.
“I think someone is either taking them and selling them, or they’re dodgy landscapers and someone had an order for English hedges and they decided to come and take them.”
The homeowners lamented that there’s little they can do to protect his plants before the alleged thief strikes again, saying “you can’t tie them down”.
It’s not the first time Aussie gardeners have been targeted for their plants in the city with residents in Adelaide previously putting Apple Airtags in the pots of their plants to track down the offenders after months of plants going missing in the night.
Residents turned to tracking devices after plant thieves were caught on camera multiple times. Source: Reddit
A Sydney student recently told Yahoo she was “devastated” after plant thieves pinched $300 worth of new plants from her front garden. In another incident 36-year-old NSW man Dan Pearce found parts of his newly planted hedge had been stolen, prompting him to leave a very disparaging sign for the culprit.
“I was absolutely gutted and instantly irate,” he told Yahoo at the time.
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