# The Nutella heist

**Canonical URL:** https://sweeties.net/wiki/the-nutella-heist/
**Source:** sweeties.net, online pick and mix sweet shop

## Summary

In April 2013 thieves stole about 5 tonnes of Nutella from a parked trailer in Bad Hersfeld, Germany. The spread was worth about €16,000.

## Description

Of all the things you might steal from a lorry park, a trailer full of chocolate spread would not be the first thing most people think of. In 2013, somebody thought of it.
A sticky weekend in Bad Hersfeld
Over a weekend in April 2013, thieves made off with about 5 metric tonnes of Nutella from a trailer parked in the central German town of Bad Hersfeld. News reports put the value at around €16,000, and said an unknown number of culprits had been involved. The story was picked up from Canada to the United States, mostly because headline writers could not resist the puns.
How much is 5 tonnes of Nutella?
Five tonnes is 5,000 kg. To put that in perspective, it would fill about 12,500 jars of 400 g each. Weighed out in the 100 g scoops we use for pick and mix, it comes to 50,000 scoops. That is a lot of toast.
Why it was not quite as silly as it sounds
It is easy to laugh, but the thieves were not daft. Five tonnes of a branded food is easy to sell on to shops and market traders, it does not carry serial numbers like electronics do, and once it is out of the trailer it is almost impossible to prove where it came from. That is the same reason lorry loads of sweets and chocolate keep being targeted today, from Creme Eggs in Telford to KitKats crossing Europe.
Not the only one
The Nutella job is part of a long list of food thefts that sound funny and cost businesses real money. A year earlier, investigators in Quebec had uncovered the biggest of them all, when thieves drained millions of dollars of maple syrup out of a strategic reserve. You can read that one in the great maple syrup heist, and the rest in famous sweet thefts from lorries.

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