SA Mohair Industries Limited CEO, Mike Brosnahan says the industry can ill-afford any theft of mohair.
He was commenting after police reported yesterday that close on 4 million rands worth of Mohair had been stolen in separate truck hijackings in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday night and near Despatch last month.
The perpetrators are still at large.
Brosnahan said because of the current shortage, brought on in the main by the drought, any theft of mohair was extremely damaging to the industry.
He said the theft of only 1 kg of mohair will put the industry at risk as they are already struggling to keep factories running, because of the shortage.
"Any wool that does not end up at a processing plant exasperates the problem which then sends people home with short pay," he said.
He told AlgoaFM News that it was virtually impossible to sell stolen mohair on the black market, as none of the main buying houses source the product from anywhere other than the main supply channels.
Brosnahan said they had established that there was a rather sinister ulterior motive for the theft of mohair.
He said drugs can be hidden inside of wool bales as the smell of the mohair will disguise the smell of the drugs.
