Bidee shower thefts may be linked to smoking alpha-PVP

Dozens of bidet showers have been stolen from Puuilo stores in the Helsinki metropolitan area, Yle reports. The chain has moved the products behind checkout counters in some locations, where customers must ask staff for them.

The thefts have prompted speculation that the showers could be used as equipment for smoking alpha-PVP, a synthetic drug that has become more common in Finland. However, the thefts remain a marginal phenomenon, with dozens of showers stolen rather than hundreds.

How widespread are the thefts?

Different forms of shoplifting have increased steadily during the 2020s, particularly over the past two years. The theft of bidet showers appears to be much less common.

Puuilo chief executive Juha Saarela told Yle that the showers had been moved behind the checkout counters in a few stores in the Helsinki metropolitan area. The stolen products have generally cost between 20 and 30 euros.

Yle also asked other retail chains that specialise in everyday goods whether they had seen similar thefts. Maija Mecklin, communications manager at Broman Group, which owns the Motonet department stores, said the chain had not received reports of bidet shower thefts.

Why are bidet showers being stolen?

There appear to be two possible explanations. Shops commonly lose products that can be resold on the black market. In recent years, some stores have moved products such as coffee, meat and fish, cheese, vitamins, chocolate and alcohol behind checkout counters or placed security labels on them.

According to Mecklin, products particularly vulnerable to theft are relatively valuable and easy to carry, such as more expensive battery chargers, power tools, knives and other blades. Bidet showers priced at 20 to 30 euros fit this explanation at least in part, Saarela said.

The other possible explanation concerns drugs that are smoked and the equipment used to smoke them.

Could the thefts be linked to alpha-PVP?

Social media and comment sections on different news sites have circulated rumours that drug users are stealing the showers.

Annuska Dal Maso, an expert in preventive drug work and head of the Nopsa project at EHYT, a Finnish organisation focused on health and substance abuse prevention, had not previously heard of bidet showers being stolen for drug use. She nevertheless considers the explanation possible.

The shape and long handle of a bidet shower somewhat resemble pipes used to smoke crack cocaine, she said. Equipment intended for smoking drugs is not distributed anywhere in Finland, making homemade devices relatively common among people who smoke alpha-PVP, according to Dal Maso.

Helsinki Police told Yle that it did not have more detailed information about the series of thefts or the possible use of the showers as equipment for smoking drugs.

Dal Maso said the discussion should focus more on the possible reasons behind the thefts than on their consequences. In parts of Central Europe where crack smoking is more common, users are provided with equipment in many places, which can help prevent this and other problems, she said.