Sydney Christmas decoration.
 
Christmas came early for a gang¹ of Australian thieves who stole 16 tonnes of ham and bacon from a Sydney warehouse² and left a festive³ thank-you note scrawled⁴ on the wall, local media reported Monday.

"Thanks, Merry Christmas," was the message that greeted the owners of the Zammit Ham and Bacon Curers when they opened up and discovered meat worth some 100,000 dollars (88,000 US dollars) had been stolen.

The thieves had cut a hole through the wall to get into the warehouse but it was not yet known how they carried away such a huge haul⁵, warehouse co-owner Anthony Zammit said.

"I am sure they'll try and sell it," he said, offering a reward of 5,000 dollars for information leading to the arrest of the thieves. He also said he would still be able to provide meat to people in time for Christmas.

"It is a blow but we'll recover from it. We're working 24 hours a day, seven days a week and put on extra staff. We won't let anyone down," he added.

 
据当地媒体本周一报道，澳大利亚一群小偷提前过起了圣诞节，他们从悉尼一家肉店的仓库里偷走16吨火腿和熏肉，并在仓库的墙上歪七扭八地留言表示感谢和节日祝福。

当天，“扎米特”火腿和熏肉店的老板去库房查货时，发现价值约10万澳元（相当于8.8万美元）的肉被盗，小偷还在仓库墙上留言——“谢谢，祝大家圣诞快乐！”。

肉店的合伙老板安东尼•扎米特说，小偷在墙上打了个洞，然后钻进仓库。但目前还不知道他们是怎样把这么多肉运走的。

扎米特正悬赏5000美元寻找破案线索。他说：“这群小偷一定会想办法把这些肉卖掉。”他还表示，（即便如此，）肉店仍然会按照圣诞节的订单要求，按时向顾客交货。

他说：“肉店仓库被盗对于我们来说是个很大的打击，但我们会‘重整旗鼓’，全力以赴，全天候服务，增加人手，不让任何一位顾客失望。”

 
Vocabulary:

scrawl:write or draw (sth) in an untidy, careless or unskilful way （潦草地写或乱画）