Oil’s well that ends well.
Italian authorities put a stop to a network of slippery fraudsters who were selling fake oil by the truckload — with cops seizing 42 tons of packaged “extra virgin” worth $1 million.
On Monday, cops in southern Italy raided 18 garages and warehouses in the Puglia region and confiscated the oil — some of which had already been packed and ready for sale, according to CNN.
Police found 71 tons of what they referred to as an oily substance in plastic tanks — as well as 623 liters of chlorophyll, an extra-virgin olive oil ingredient that the shifty bandits were adding to cheaper oil.
They also found vans, computers, loading equipment, packaging materials and labels claiming the oil was “extra-virgin” — even thought it clearly was not, CNN said.
Authorities collared seven people and charged them with criminal conspiracy, fraud and adulteration of food intended for marketing.
Their investigation — which also turned up nearly 200 bottles of suspected fake champagne — began last September after cops arrested 11 people in Italy and Spain and confiscated 12 barrels filled with 260,000 liters of adulterated olive oil, also known as non-virgin or extra.
Although it seems like an odd racket, authorities say instances of fake extra-virgin olive oil have become more and more common in the last few years, the outlet said.
Police attribute this to both the popularity of the olive-oil heavy Mediterranean diet and the effects of climate change, which has caused droughts in southern Europe that have slashed production, the International Olive Council said.
Earlier this year, officials raided 50 Roman restaurants and found they’d been passing off seed oil as extra-virgin olive oil, CNN said.
