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Thieves pinch contents of 144 crayfish cages

Sweden's popular crayfish season has been tainted for anglers in southern Sweden, who were robbed of 144 full cages of crayfish worth around 30,000 kronor ($4,600).

Thieves pinch contents of 144 crayfish cages

The brazen robbery was noticed on Saturday morning at a lake in Växjö, where thieves had cleared out the contents of 144 cages belonging to 12 different fishermen.

Jan Sjöwall, the chairman of the Växjö Angling Association, suspects foul play.

“There have been thefts in the past in the Helga Lake, but always at an amateur level. This seems to have been organized,” he told the Smålandsposten newspaper.

He added that the cages had been neatly returned to the water, and that it appeared the thieves had even stolen the smaller crustaceans, despite local rules only allowing those over 11 centimetres to be taken.

At this time of year, Sjöwall estimated the cages’ contents would be worth 30,000 kronor.

The association has now asked local police for help in solving the shellfish crime.

Crayfish parties are Sweden’s biggest excuse for a get together during August, with many households hosting kräftskivor for families and friends. Besides the mountains of crayfish, the staple ingredient for success is a variety of strong spirits and a collection of traditional Swedish drinking songs.

For those interested in learning more about the drinking songs, click here for a closer look at the lyrics.

SEE ALSO: Crayfish: the messiest party of the year

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Spain has second highest rate of daily alcohol drinkers in EU 

More than one in ten Spaniards drink alcohol every day, making them the Europeans who drink most regularly after the Portuguese, new Eurostat data reveals. 

Spain has second highest rate of daily alcohol drinkers in EU 
Photo: Cristina Quicler/AFP

Thirteen percent of people in Spain drink alcohol every day, a similar rate to Italy, where 12 percent enjoy a tipple on a daily basis, and only behind Portugal, where 20 percent of people have an alcoholic drink seven days a week.

That puts Spaniards above the EU average of 8.4 percent daily drinkers, data published by Eurostat in July 2021 reveals. 

This consistent alcoholic intake among Spaniards is far higher than in countries such as Sweden (1.8 percent daily drinkers), Poland (1.6 percent), Norway (1.4 percent), Estonia (1.3 percent) and Latvia (1.2 percent). 

However, the survey that looked at the frequency of alcohol consumption in people aged 15 and over shows that weekly and monthly drinking habits among Spaniards are more in line with European averages. 

A total of 22.9 percent of respondents from Spain said they drunk booze on a weekly basis, 18.3 percent every month, 12.5 percent less than once a month, and 33 percent haven’t had a drink ever or in the last year. 

Furthermore, another part of the study which looked at heavy episodic drinking found that Spaniards are the third least likely to get blind drunk, after Cypriots and Italians.

The Europeans who ingested more than 60 grammes of pure ethanol on a single occasion at least once a month in 2019 were Danes (37.8 percent), Romanians (35 percent), Luxembourgers (34.3 percent) and Germans (30.4 percent). 

The UK did not form part of the study but Ireland is included. 

Overall, Eurostat’s findings reflect how the Spanish habit of enjoying a glass of wine with a meal or a small beer (caña) outdoors with friends continues to be common daily practice, even though 13 percent does not make it prevalent. 

Spaniards’ tendency to drink in moderation also continues to prevail, even though a 2016 study by Danish pharmaceuticals company Lundbeck found that one in six people in the country still drinks too much. 

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