The Hanover Police Service is issuing a warning to sticky-fingered, shovel-wielding types who are looking to steal personal pot plants from backyards in the community.

“If you are so inclined to prowl around at night & steal anything plan on a @norms1947 breakfast on us topped off with a court date in Walkerton,” Chief Christopher Knoll of the Hanover Police Service tweeted this week.

The tongue-in-cheek invite to Norm’s Restaurant — a local restaurant where, apparently, The Legend Lives — follows two recent incidents in which thieves made off with marijuana plants from backyards.

The most recent incident earlier this week included a bit of prep work before carrying out the dirty deed, Knoll told the Owen Sound Sun Times, reporting that the culprits first scouted the home and then returned at about 3:45 a.m.

They came prepared, equipped with a shovel to dig up two cannabis plants that were each about seven feet tall. But the savvy forethought ended there, with Knoll reporting that the thieves forgot the shovel at the crime scene.

There was another instance of weed thievery, this time involving a plant growing in an aptly named pot, earlier this summer. No digging was required in that case.

Knoll said the antics seem to match what was going on in town last August.

“It’s been twice so far this year, but, as these plants get closer to maturity, we’ll probably start to see an uptick in these types of thefts,” he suggested to Owen Sound Sun Times.

Knoll reminded those contemplating similar strikes that trespassing on private property between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. is a criminal offence.

The Cannabis Act allows people to grow as many as four cannabis plants per household for personal use. There are, however, certain provincial rules that may come into play regarding if plants can be cultivated and where.

Even if cannabis cultivation is okay, though, people would be well-advised not to boast about their fabulous grows on social media. “If you’re advertising that you have plants, you may be the target of a theft,” Knoll told Owen Sound Sun Times.