Holy guacamole! Baffled police say that ‘stolen avocados carry risks’

We're not even joking a little bit when we tell you that an avocado shortage is fuelling a crime wave over in New Zealand.

Since the beginning of the year, New Zealand has seen nearly 40 large-scale robberies from avocado orchards, and police are saying that up to 350 individual fruits have been taken at a time.

This comes after farmers had a poor season last year which saw a lower amount of the crop grown. However, in 2015 an additional 96,000 households started to buy avocados in New Zealand and suppliers haven't been able to keep up.

According to The Guardian, the thefts took place in the middle of the night, with robbers using blankets to collect a few after "raking" them off the trees.

"These stolen avocados can carry risks," said Sergeant Aaron Fraser.

"They are unripe, some have been sprayed recently and they may still carry toxins on the skin. But with the prices so high at the moment, the potential for profit is a strong inducement for certain individuals."

However, the New Zealand Avocado CEO, Jen Scoular, said that farmers are becoming more savvy about protecting their crops now.