AUSTRALIA - There’s a pear-napper on the loose. After a tree fruit thief took a whopping five tons of beurre bosc pears from an orchard outside of Portland, Victoria, Australia, local police have begun a full-on manhunt.

Allegedly, between March 18th through the 20th, either a thief or gang of thieves tore down five rows of orchards, spanning over a third of a mile long. So how did the this fruit "disap-pear?" Police say that they have no ideas on how criminal was able to move the massive quantity of fruit without being detected, but the property’s unmanned side gate may have aided their swift getaway.

Despite the large size of the load, it looks like these pear packers will only be making off with a $1,500 haul, ABC News reports.

"There's people in the industry and there's people in these rural areas who have suspicions about certain individuals that they probably hold, but people don't like to point the finger," commented Detective Sergeant Mark James in an ABC News report as he explained the thefts have been an ongoing issue. "With jobs like these, there's a lot of money involved, and it's harming the industry and it's harming the individual.”

Police further explained that the culprit was likely to be a “pearfessional,” which I am deeming to mean someone familiar with the pear orchard industry. Currently, motives for the crime remain unknown, but I'd like to think a very large pear tart is in the works somewhere right now.