The Strangest Theft You’ve Never Heard Of
cover up: to hide a mistake, crime, or scandal so others do not find out
In July 2008, an entire beach disappeared overnight from the north coast of Jamaica. The Coral Spring beach was a 400-meter stretch of white sand, ready for a planned luxury resort.
Then one morning, the sand was gone. All of it.
The sand was worth about one million US dollars on the black market. The thieves took about 500 truckloads of it. That is hundreds of tons. But somehow, no one saw or heard a thing.
The police started a big investigation. The deputy commissioner said it was a complex crime. There were the receivers, the truck drivers, and the organizers. He also said that some police officers may have helped.
Many believed that other hotels bought the sand. Beaches naturally lose their sand every year to erosion, so hotels often need more. New sand from outside is very expensive. A stolen beach is a cheap solution.
The investigation went nowhere. No one was arrested. The luxury hotel project was canceled. Some politicians said the government wanted to cover up the truth. Years later, the case is still a mystery.
What makes the story stranger is that it is not unique. Sand is the second-most-stolen resource on Earth after water. The world uses huge amounts of it for buildings, roads, and beaches. Whole islands in Indonesia have already been dug up and sold. Coral Spring was just the most famous case.
Sample sentences
The company tried to cover up the safety problems, but a former employee leaked the documents to the press.
Several officials lost their jobs after investigators found a clear attempt to cover up the financial fraud.
Politicians who cover up their mistakes often face bigger problems when the truth finally comes out.
Origin
The phrase became globally famous during the 1972 Watergate scandal in the United States. American journalists used “cover-up” to describe how President Nixon’s team tried to hide their involvement in the break-in at the Democratic Party headquarters. Since then, the phrase has been linked to political and corporate scandals worldwide.
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This day in Jamaican history: Thieves ‘steal a beach’ in Trelawny
