The deed might not earn much respect among Russia’s hardened prisoner “thieves in the law,” but it still could put one unfortunate Siberian man behind bars.
A resident of Russia’s Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Region faces a maximum five years in prison for a very particular crime: stealing 120 kilograms of cedar pine cones.
According to local police, a man from Russkinskaya village informed them that twelve sacks of pine cones had been stolen from his garage. While investigating the crime, police detained a 23-year-old suspect, who admitted to committing the theft.
By the time of his arrest, the suspect had already managed to sell the stolen cones.
Cedar cones contain edible nuts, and can be use used in Russian folk medicine and decorative arts.
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