This happens in small scales all around the world, but is rarely ever done on a large scale.
There were two largely reported beach thefts recently. One was in Hungary on an artificial beach. The other was in Jamaica and was done to a genuine beach. There were reportedly 500 truckloads of sand stolen without anyone noticing there!
The beach that was “stolen” was the beach at Coral Springs in Jamaica’s parish of Trelawny. 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.
After three months of investigating, the police failed to find any leads. Some have suggested that there was collusion between the criminals and some police officers, but Jamaican police denied this.
