Forbidden fruit leaves aftertaste for group of suspected thieves

Three unemployed men who stole 15 kilograms of peaches from an agricultural institute had no idea the fruit they were stealing was worth thousands of yuan to the institute's experimental research.

The Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute had spent over 10 years cultivating the fruit that was worth an estimated 100,000 yuan ($15,700).

Niu Liang, a researcher at the institute that operates in Henan province under the Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences, told China Daily on Tuesday that peaches from the institute's experimental strains were stolen on Monday night.