POLICE and farm leaders are urging people on remote rural properties to be vigilant following multiple thefts of a substantial volume of diesel from a property at Hopetoun in Victoria's Mallee. With diesel prices soaring above $2.20 a litre in the southern Mallee the thefts, from a sizable fuel storage on the property, have a big financial cost. Thefts from relatively small-scale but fuel intensive businesses with reasonable storages, such as large farms, agricultural contractors and transport businesses now could reach as high as $100,000 in cost comfortably. Police confirmed there had been multiple thefts from the address on Mandeville Street between March 10 and March 18. RELATED: Government confident on fuel security RELATED: Grain producers face elevated risk with high input costs Given the scale of the fuel stolen the thieves are believed to have had access to professional fuel cartage equipment. Hopetoun police are appealing to the public for any information that may help apprehend the culprits. Meanwhile police have also said the theft highlights the importance of rural safety and security. The Hopetoun incident is one of the larger fuel thefts from rural property reported, but there have been similar instances of thieves stealing fuel reported in South Australia. A number of reports of fuel theft have been lodged in the Murray / Mallee region through March, including at Karoonda, Walker Flat and Mypolonga. Police recommended rural property owners install cameras and take other preventative measures, such as locks on fuel tanks where possible, saying isolated rural properties could be easy targets for thieves. Brett Hosking, Grain Growers chairman, said the thefts were a wake-up call for farmers. "This type of sophisticated theft is unlikely to be representative of the normal kind of opportunistic fuel theft we see on farm but it is a reminder of just how much money there is in fuel at present," Mr Hosking said. "Don't leave your fuel storage unlocked and if you have to take fuel to the paddock in a cart make it as hard for potential thieves as possible, lock the tanker even look at putting in temporary cameras on the gateway as fuel theft is something that will be seriously expensive to endure with prices where they are." Mr Hosking said farmers needed to realise their farm inputs were now a high value target for thieves. "It's not just fuel, but something like urea, a B-Double load is now worth around $60,000 so you have to be careful." "It used to be more vehicles, tools and livestock that were thieves' preference but now your farm inputs are a very valuable asset and need to be well looked after. "Farmers are vulnerable to theft due to our isolated locations but the more preventative measures we put in place the lower that risk is. "If you can, try and make sure anything valuable, like a fuel cart, left in the paddock is not easily visible from the road, lock up where you can and look at putting in some form of CCTV, especially around your sheds. "It also pays to really know how much fuel you have in your tanks, so you can better identify when it starts to go missing rather than just thinking you'd already used it." Start the day with all the big news in agriculture! Sign up below to receive our daily Farmonline newsletter.
