Three Moroccan Men To Face Six Years In Sicilian Jail For Stealing €5 Vegetables

 

Three Moroccan men are facing up to six years between them in a Sicilian jail for stealing seven fennel worth just €5. The potential sentence equates to almost one year in prison for each fennel. The men, aged 22, 33 and 35, were caught stealing the fennel from a privately-owned vegetable patch in Alcamo, in the Sicilian province of Trapani, in February this year. They were charged for the “intention to profit” from the stolen goods.

Italy is harsh on its petty criminals: in early November, a man caught stealing an ice-cream, four chocolates and a packet of Fruit Joy – worth less than €10 – from a shop in the northern region of Treviso was sentenced to five months in prison. In the same month, a 64-year-old was charged with theft after stealing apples and nuts worth €4 from a supermarket in Imperia, a seaside town in the northern region of Liguria. The man was reportedly “driven by hunger” to steal.