Grower’s anger over $500 succulents theft
Thieves have made off with almost $500 worth of pots and succulent plants from a New Plymouth property.
Graham Mulvay woke Sunday morning to find three large clay pots had vanished from the front of his Carrington St house.
He believed an attempt had been made to remove a fourth but it was too heavy and so was left behind.
‘‘It was sitting on the ground
‘‘You try and make the place look nice and you wonder what should I do? Do I need to put barbwire around the place?’’
with two big footprints on either side,’’ he said.
The pots, each containing about $100 of various agave plants, were $80 each.
Mulvay dismissed the idea of the plants being targeted due to certain succulents containing psychoactive properties.
While the agave plant is used to manufacture tequila, several cactus species contain the naturallyoccurring psychedelic mescaline.
‘‘They took them for the pots, they could be resold for a couple of hundred bucks.’’
Mulvay said the vessels, which measured about half of one metre in height, were too heavy to shift alone and so he believed two people would have worked together to move them into a nearby vehicle.
‘‘I thought because they were so heavy they would be safe,’’ he said.
‘‘We only put the big ones out the front for that exact reason.’’
Police confirmed the theft had been reported.
Mulvay has since ramped up the security around his property.
All of his outdoor pots have been moved to a more secure location and he has installed a new lock on his gate.
‘‘You try and make the place look nice and you wonder what should I do? Do I need to put barbwire around the place?
‘‘We just don’t want scumbags stuffing it up for everybody.’’
Mulvay said the theft had left him feeling like a sitting duck.
He believed it was a targeted theft and that whoever took them knew they were there.
‘‘It’s the feeling of being vulnerable... I mean what else are they going to take?
‘‘It’s the fact you can’t have anything nice on your property.’’