Posted on 03/24/2006 12:26:23 AM PST by beaversmom
The West Jefferson Police Department is asking local stores that sell baby food formula to be on the watch for thefts of the product. Detective Bill Craig of the WJPD said that baby food formula was stolen from two local stores at a value of $2,500 - $3,000 last week.
The formula was taken from Wal-Mart and Lowes Foods in West Jefferson. The suspects carried a baby carrier in the store as though a baby was covered up. The suspects then allegedly took all of the baby food formula cans valued at around $20 each and carried them out of the store in the baby carrier.
Police are currently searching for a Nissan Maxima, either green or gold in color, with a left front black fender. Wal-Mart and Ingles of Boone also had a lot of formula stolen last week with an estimated value of between $3,000 and $4,000, according to Craig.
The West Jefferson Police Department learned in 2004 that a woman they arrested in November, 2003, was allegedly linked to a baby food formula smuggling ring that is believed to be part of an organization that has funneled money to a terrorist group.
Craig said that an article in the Winston Salem Journal explained that different groups were stealing the formula and taking it to a Middle Eastern man in Raleigh. The man then repackaged the formula and sold it to various buyers.
The article explained how the baby formula thefts over a seven year period resulted in about $11 million to be funneled to a terrorist group, Craig said. Incidents of theft of baby food formula have happened in the area numerous times over the past several years.
Immigration officials have been contacted regarding these suspects that have been arrested in Mocksville. Law enforcement officers are on the look out for these suspects and ask that anyone with information about their whereabouts to call the West Jefferson Police Department at 336-246-9410 or Crimestoppers at 336-246-4188. Stores noticing suspicious activity are encouraged to call and report this as well.
amazing! thanks for this!
"The suspects then allegedly took all of the baby food formula cans valued at around $20 each and carried them out of... "
If that is not a typo then no wonder its a high theft item.
If you want to buy some of that stolen (?) babyfood, ebay has 681 listings for baby food formula.
Looks like one can find quite a bargain, too! Whoever knew?
"The suspects then allegedly took all of the baby food formula cans valued at around $20 each and carried them out of... "
But, how do you get 125 cans in a baby back pack?
I remember it well from when my kids were babies. That stuff is like gold to buy.
Craig said that an article in the Winston Salem Journal explained that different groups were stealing the formula and taking it to a Middle Eastern man in Raleigh. The man then repackaged the formula and sold it to various buyers.
"The man then repackaged the formula and sold it to various buyers."
"Repackaged"??? Haven't I read somewhere that formula is used to mix with drugs... can't remember where i gleaned this tidbit.
They look hispanic to me. Probably selling it back home in the mother country.
Furthermore, I'm having a total recall moment remembering some convenience stores in NC being robbed of Baby Formula in the not so distant past.
04/02/2003: New find in 'smoking gun' search
Freeper snip:
Baby formula canisters. Who said those terrorists can't find common ground with Saddam? Y'think they came from that bombed building in 1991 where Iraqis put up a hasty sign in English: "BABY FORMULA"? --end snip.
Do a freeper search for "Baby Formula".
Or... could it be rabid LACTIVISTS plying a "truth to power" scenario???
"Baby food formula" is a locution I've never heard. "Baby formula" is the artificial milk, and "baby food" is the mush.
I always look at the prices of baby formula when I'm in the grocery store, because it reminds me that sitting on the sofa nursing Vlad 14 hours a day is a high-value activity, even though my floors are a mess :-).
Why can't they put baby formula behind the counter as they do cigarettes and now any cold med that has ephedra in it? Financing Al Queda through stolen goods is certainly more dangerous than having a teen buy cigarettes.
No, no....the hastily scrawled sign said "Baby Milk Factory" and the only ones fooled were CNN reporters. But then they so WANTED it to be true!
I would imagine ANY stolen good has the risk of being fenced for the benfit of a terrorist organization. Perhps federal "shrinkage control" regulations should be promulgated, and retailers who don't comply or don't meet the shrinkage targets will pay fines.
I remember the guys with jackets, embroidered in English with "Baby Milk Factory", going through the rubble of some building in Baghdad.
The floors and the dust can wait. You've more important matters to attend to.
I pitch a fit about the floors every week or so. My family are slobs!
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