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Spanish farmer Antonio Basa has to watch his olive grove at night. A severe drought has destroyed the crops, making olive oil very expensive. This attracts professional gangs who plunder the olive groves mercilessly. Spain is the world’s largest producer of olive oil. Antonio Basa is exhausted and has just finished a night patrol of his field. Farmers work their olive groves during the day and watch them at night to avoid being stolen. It is very frustrating. The thieves have become more daring and steal several tons of olives every night. The price of olives has risen after a severe drought reduced his harvest in 2022 and 2023 by almost half. José Medina, from the town of Safra, has been robbed four times in the past year, with olives worth €80,000 stolen from his warehouse. With his insurance company refusing to pay him, José is on the verge of bankruptcy and is frustrated by the slow pace of the investigation. He has long lost hope that the perpetrators will be brought to justice. Fran Camorra of the Civil Guard can understand his anger. He is a member of the environmental police unit “Ceprona” and estimates that only 10 percent of the thefts are detected, despite his agency patrolling olive groves with motorbikes, drones and thermal imaging cameras. But there are so many olive groves in Spain that Antonio Bassa is considering abandoning his olive farming. After two years of drought, thieves are now threatening his existence. ـــــ #Documentary #DW #dwdocs #Olives #OliveOil #Spain ـــــ DW’s call for dialogue: https://p.dw.com/p/OYIo More documentaries are available on our websites in English: http://www.dw.com/ar/tv/docfilm/s-3610 / dwdocumentary / dw.stories