Remember the urban legends that you heard when you were younger? There was that one about HIV-infected needles in the seats at the movies, and there was also that one about people who put razor blades in candy and give it to children.

Those turned out to be fake news. Unfortunately for Australia, what sounds like an urban legend is their current reality.

There have been nine confirmed cases of needles hidden in strawberries in six states across Australia, sparking a federal investigation to try and catch the culprit(s).

The strawberry industry has taken a serious knock, having recalled mountains of strawberries that have subsequently been destroyed, reports NewsAU.

Shoppers are avoiding strawberries that are available because of a fear — rational or otherwise — that their punnet might have been tampered with.

Just yesterday, we learned that a needle was found inside an apple being peeled by a Sydney mum for her daughter.

“This can’t possibly be happening, not in apples,” the Kellyville mum said.

Criminologist and psychologist at Melbourne’s RMIT University, Dr Michelle Noon, is trying to make sense of the situation.

Dr Noon works with criminals in a clinical role when she’s not lecturing on criminal behaviour. She’s seen everything, but even she struggles with the strawberry sabotage.

She told news.com.au while it was hard to be definitive on the type of person who would choose to deliberately sabotage fruit in the first place, copycat criminals were more likely motivated by their actions making media headlines.

“There is a suggestion that copycat crime is predicted by media and community interest,” Dr Noon said. “Media and community interest is likely to be driving it, but this media coverage is giving people an idea of what crime to commit — not the reason or the motive to commit crime full stop.”

The people responsible would be experiencing what Dr Noon refers to as “cognitive distortions”. This means that they feel justified in their actions and, in some ways, believe that society should understand their motivations:

“They’re motivated individuals who have normalised deviant and criminal scripts and behaviours for themselves. Those scripts are gained from peer interactions and explain a preparedness to commit criminal acts.”

Dr Noon rejected the notion that committing a crime anonymously meant the culprit ignored the consequences.

“Maybe there’s a deep understanding of consequences,” she said.

Here’s a little plot twist.

Turns out, instead of a criminal mastermind, the original culprit might be a young boy who thought it would be funny to prank people with sharp objects in their fruit.

New South Wales Acting Assistant Police Commissioner Stuart Smith would not release further details but said the child had been caught in recent days.

“Obviously in the last few days we found a young person has admitted to a prank, including putting needles in strawberries, and he’ll be dealt with under the youth cautioning system,” he said.

The behaviour could be “called a prank”, he said, but warned that any copycat cases would be dealt with harshly.

Copycat cases have appeared in Newcastle and Tasmania, where people have found metal objects and needles in their fruit.

A police operation involving 100 officers across multiple states is now underway to find those responsible.

[source:newsau]