Police are searching for thieves who allegedly stole $150,000 worth of beehives from a rural property in the New South Wales northern tablelands, with a local apiarist saying they may well have been taken by a fellow beekeeper.

Eighty beehive boxes containing active colonies were taken from a property on Bruxner Way, 15km west of Bonshaw and 100km north-west of Glen Innes. NSW police believe the alleged theft occurred sometime between Tuesday 31 March and Wednesday 6 May.

The NSW police rural crime prevention team has begun investigating. The missing boxes are described as predominantly cream-coloured with blue base boards, blue and white lids and red clear boards.

Police are urging anyone with information, or who was in the area with dashcam or mobile phone footage, to contact rural crime investigators at Inverell or Glen Innes police stations, or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Mitch McLennan, at The Honey Shed in nearby Tabulam, said the alleged theft would be a “devastating” loss for the owner.

“It’s terrible, it’s such a big loss,” the beekeeper said, noting he had a hunch on the thieves’ demographic: “The only people that steal bees are beekeepers.”

“It’s definitely a beekeeper,” McLennan said. “Like, no one else goes in and steals any hives of bees … what else are you going to do with them unless you’re a beekeeper? I’d say that it’s some disheartened beekeeper that has decided they’re going to steal someone else’s.”

McLennan said hive thefts had “become quite commonplace now” in the industry, driven by the desperation of apiarists losing their livelihoods to the varroa destructor mite.

The parasitic mite, which weakens bees, kills larvae and spreads deadly viruses, was first detected in Australia in June 2022 and has since swept through bee populations nationwide.

“There’s been some pretty big losses,” McLennan said.

McLennan said it is common for beekeepers to place their hives on public land such as state forest roadsides, but they are particularly vulnerable to tampering and theft.

“I’ve got a friend who has 4,000 hives and he said pretty much every time since, they’ve had this varroa and everyone’s been losing their bees, every time they put bees on a roadside site, someone comes in and takes bees out of them or messes with them,” he said.

“We use private property for that exact reason, because on public sites, every Tom, Dick and Harry can walk in there and take your bees,” he said. He keeps his bees “behind three locked gates and well, well away from where anyone can see”.