Beach theft

Sand theft or unauthorised or illegal sand mining leads to a widely unknown global example of natural and non-renewable resource depletion problem comparable in extent to global water scarcity.Beach theft is illegal removal of large quantities of sand from a beach leading to full or partial disappearance of the beach.

Sand theft is a worldwide phenomenon. Beach theft, the large-scale removal of sand to the point that entire stretches of a beach disappear, is considerably less common.

Two instances of beach thefts have been widely reported in the media: one in Hungary in 2007 and another in Jamaica in 2008. The beach that was stolen in Hungary was an artificially created one on the banks of a river. The other one is a genuine example of a beach theft.

In South India, the problem appears so pronounced that a particular Tamil term – manarkollai – has been coined.

A beach theft was discovered in Jamaica in July 2008.

The beach at Coral Springs, in Jamaica's northern parish of Trelawny, was 400 metres of white sand. The bulk of the sand in the 0.5-hectare beach, of approximately 500 truckloads, was found missing in July 2008. The beach was to form part of a resort complex, but the theft of its most important feature has led to its developers putting their plans on hold. Illegal sand mining is a problem in Jamaica; the local tradition of people building their own homes has caused a huge demand for construction material.

The disappearance of the beach was considered so important that Jamaica's Prime Minister Bruce Golding took a personal interest in the theft and ordered a report into how such a large quantity of sand could have been stolen, transported and presumably sold. Police carried out forensic tests on beaches along the coast to see if any of it matched the stolen sand. A three-month police investigation failed to lead to anyone being charged. There were unconfirmed reports about collusion between the criminals and some police officers, but Jamaican police denied any such collusion.

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