Gotcha after Camposol Gardening groups complain of vandalism and theft

Two gardening groups have been struck by vandalism and theft in recent weeks, in one case there could be a perpetrator “caught red-handed”!

First it was the Camposol D Community and Gardening Group describing how after spending months “pruning oleanders and trees, lining verges with stones and finally laying gravel in the wishing well area. Only to find the remains of a metal gazebo dumped on top of the newly gravelled verge and an old sofa and numerous black bags also dumped. The group’s volunteers spent hours improving this area for the benefit of residents. They are now asking themselves “why do we bother?”.

Latterly the president of Sector B’s B Clean gardening group reported:

“A couple of weeks ago B Clean volunteers planted 9 olive trees along C/Sierra de la Torrecilla going south from the rambla roundabout. This morning there were only 5 olive trees left in the row. We have now dug the remaining trees up again to prevent further theft and they will be re planted in a more populated area.

We must also report that the new hedging which was started along the overflow car park has also had 3 of the plants stolen already.

The gardening volunteers work very hard to try and improve Sector B, but sometimes we wonder why we bother. If you get offered any olive trees or oleander plants, B Clean would like to know about it”

The overflow car park and plants have been installed and funded in a joint community effort by the Camposol Business Association, B Clean Gardening Group, C sector’s Green Fingers Gardening Group and Camposol D Community and Gardening Group. The area is also kept clean with weekly litter picking by a group of residents from all sectors of the urbanisation.

This may have been an end to the story but the Camposol Business Association has a Guardia Civil approved video network and on reviewing the camera footage, found a segment showing some of the newly installed plants in the car park hedging being removed by 2 individuals and placed into a strategically parked vehicle. The video was tracked until a view of the perpetrators faces were visible, a print out of this and the front of the vehicle has been placed by the spaces where the plants formerly resided (Camposol Today has blurred the faces and vehicle registration for legal reasons). It may be worth remembering that oleander plants and olive trees are widely available at local garden centres.

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