Overview
- In recent days police logged multiple cases in Baden‑Württemberg, including a 300‑liter theft from a Giengen restaurant garage, multi‑ton losses in Heidenheim, further hits in Sindelfingen and Ludwigsburg, and a Hockenheim seizure of twelve barrels.
- Officers in Siegburg detained a father and son as they attempted to haul away fryer fat from a snack bar, one of the few arrests reported in a wave of largely unsolved cases.
- Saarländischer Rundfunk published surveillance evidence of nighttime raids on restaurant backyards, with thieves siphoning oil by bucket or removing entire containers.
- The BDE reports more than 7,000 thefts were filed in 2023 and says many cases are dropped as minor offences, warning of professional networks and industry losses in the millions.
- Used cooking fat feeds biodiesel and HVO production and can fetch up to about €900 per tonne, yet strict certification blocks stolen loads from legal buyers, with the trade often diverted toward the Netherlands; state officials note the issue is regional rather than uniformly statewide.