Shopian: Around 500 apple boxes were stolen from an orchard during last night in the Batapora Niladang village of south Kashmir’s Shopian district, said the owner of the property on Tuesday.

As per the news agency CNS, Ghulam Hassan Wagay, who is the owner of the orchard, said that the around 500 boxes containing apples were kept in a shed in his orchard and all of them were stolen during an intervening night of 11 and 12 December by some thieves.

“No one can do such an act other than thieves. I had recently packed the apples in the boxes to sell them off but nothing has been left there,” Wagay said.

He said that all his year’s hard work has been squandered by the thieves in their single act and estimated the loss incurred by him in lakhs.

“It is very unfortunate that incidents like this keep happening in Shopian. Recently, at another place, at least over 400 apple boxes were stolen. Recurring of these incidents is a very serious issue which demands the district administration and police’s focus in order to prevent such occurrences of such incidents in future,” he added.

Wagay also said that the police have already registered a case and is hopeful that the persons behind the theft would be caught soon.