Australia: 5 charged in suspected salmon swindle

Five factory workers in Australia were charged with stealing up to 250 tons of salmon in the span of six months from a processing plant in Sydney, New South Wales police said on Monday. 

The stolen salmon was worth around 4 million Australian dollars (roughly €2.5 million). 

The investigation began in December 2020, when their employer sounded the alarm with authorities. The chief of the salmon farming and processing company realized that daily production was down some 600 kilograms of salmon for no apparent reason at a processing plant at Ingleburn, south-west Sydney. 

Investigators descended on the plant and conducting interviews. Their efforts resulted in the arrests of two women, aged 30 and 31, and three men, aged 30, 32 and 49; all thought to have been part of the operation.  

"The syndicate used their roles within the company to falsely grade premium salmon products as waste, which was then removed from the plant and transported for on-sale or traded for other product," the police said in a statement. 

All five suspects have since been fired from their jobs. 

Two of the men were out on bail, while the other three people remained in detention until their court appearance, scheduled for February.