Beehive bandit arrested in Malaga: 337 stolen hives recovered in 'Operation Piquera'

Crime

A rogue beekeeper faces charges for an eight-year crime spree involving 19 victims across the province

Almudena Nogués

The Guardia Civil has brought a long-standing threat to the Malaga beekeeping community to an end with the conclusion of Operation Piquera 2025.

A man has been arrested on suspicion of committing 24 separate offences, including crimes against property, document forgery, filing a false police report, and public health violations.

The breakthrough in the case came thanks to modern technology. In June 2025, a beekeeper from Alhaurín de la Torre reported the theft of seven hives. Using a pre-installed GPS tracking system, the owner was able to pinpoint the exact location of his stolen property on a remote estate. When investigators arrived to inspect the site, they discovered a massive stockpile of illicit hives hidden among the suspect’s legal inventory.

A sophisticated "re-branding" operation

The suspect allegedly operated a calculated scheme to disguise his stolen goods. While he only had around 70 legally registered hives across three sites, police discovered he was concealing hundreds more. To bypass sanitary inspections and administrative checks, he employed a "re-branding" technique:

Original identification markings on the boxes were covered with filler or putty. He then carved or painted his own official registration number over the top to give the stolen equipment a veneer of legality.