In southern Spain, a man has been sentenced to a year in prison for stealing 7,000 dried hams and selling them for €520,000. That writes the British newspaper The Guardian.
Between 2007 and 2013, the man worked in a warehouse in Huelva, Spain. He was responsible for order taking, drying process and distribution.
The Spanish region is known for the jabugo ham, a kind of dry-cured ham that comes from black – Iberian – pigs. These pigs only eat acorns in the last months of their lives. Jamon of jabugo is therefore very expensive and can be sold for 500 euros each. Of the seven thousand hams that the condemned man stole, at least one hundred were of this type.
The man’s wife has been convicted of complicity. The couple has to repay 529,900 euros to his former employer. The man was initially sentenced to six years in prison. The sentence was ultimately lower, because it took years before the case was heard by the judge.
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