In a brazen and highly organized theft, bandits made off with $2.5 million worth of premium olive oil from a Houston warehouse, flooding local markets with cut-rate bottles of the high-end product. The stolen goods, belonging to CHO America, the producers of Terra Delyssa branded olive oils, are now being sold at half the usual price in competing stores, according to company officials.
The theft, which took place last month, involved 18 truckloads of olive oil—comprising 29 pallets, each containing 672 bottles—being looted from a third-party-owned warehouse on Navigation Road. The warehouse had reportedly gone out of business and lacked operational security cameras at the time of the heist, according to local station KHOU.
“An organized hit,” says company owner
CHO America owner Wajih Rekik described the theft as a coordinated and calculated operation, telling Fox 26, “It’s not someone who likes olive oil, because there is no way he can drink that much olive oil. That is a lot of olive oil to drink.” Rekik said he didn’t discover the theft until weeks later when he received a tip that his high-quality organic olive oil wasn’t reaching its intended stores. Upon investigation, the company traced the missing product through trackable lot numbers and recovered one pallet from a Houston store selling the premium oil at drastically reduced prices.
The Terra Delyssa olive oil, packaged in dark glass bottles with distinctive yellow labels, typically sells for $15 to $27 per bottle. Rekik expressed frustration at seeing his award-winning product sold at a fraction of its value. “Knowing our product is being sold at half-price or one-fourth the price at some stores now is devastating, too,” he said in an interview with KHOU.
Company urges retailers to watch for suspicious olive oil sales
As the olive oil continues to circulate in the market at suspiciously low prices, CHO America is urging retailers to report any unusual offers of Terra Delyssa at significantly reduced rates. The company hopes to recover more of the stolen product and is seeking the public’s help to track down additional pallets of the looted olive oil. The heist, which has left CHO America reeling, highlights the vulnerability of warehouses lacking proper security measures. Authorities are continuing to investigate the theft, while Rekik and his team remain hopeful that public vigilance will aid in recovering the remaining stolen goods.
