BEIJING —  Stick your hands up, we're after the pork.

Robbers in southern China have started stealing pork because rising prices have made the meat, a staple in the country, so valuable, a newspaper reported Friday.

The Shenzhen Jing newspaper said a peddler was robbed of his motorcycle and load of 275 pounds of pork while on his way to a market in Shenzhen, just over the border from Hong Kong.

He was robbed of the motorcycle and the pork by four suspects who rushed from a minibus and threaten him with a knife, according to report.

"They took the pork because it was more expensive than the motorcycle," a local policeman was quoted as saying. Pork prices have risen more than 40 percent over the past year.

The policeman said a stolen motorcycle can be sold for $132, while that amount of pork can be sold for more than $400.

The newspaper said the four robbers were caught.