Pssst! Wanna buy a beehive?

I never quite know how to take stories like this: "Beekeeping enthusiasts stung by thieves as hives in Kent are stolen to order" http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/news/Beekeepers-stung-thieves/article-3469552-detail/article.html , Thursday, April 21

Who is stealing the hives? How do they sell them? How utterly bizarre! There must be easier things to steal...