Posted on 12/26/2025 6:07:58 AM PST by Red Badger
Thefts of high-value cargoes aren't anything new, in the United States or elsewhere. But this one's a tad unusual in that it was a shipment of lobsters that was stolen, prompting an investigation by some pretty hard-shelled characters from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to look into the matter - and you'd butter believe they are on a roll.
A $400,000 shipment of lobsters headed for Costco locations in Illinois and Minnesota was hijacked before arriving at its delivery points.
Dylan Rexing, CEO of Indiana-based logistics business Rexing Companies, said the shipment was picked up in Taunton, Mass., but never reached its destination, WFLD reported. Rexing told the outlet that the heist appeared to be part of an organized ring of cargo thieves targeting high-value products.
"This is a huge issue across the country," Rexing told WFLD. "It directly impacts businesses and contributes to higher prices for consumers."
The FBI is investigating the lobster shipment theft. No arrests have been announced.
Lobster, we might note, is indeed a high-value target. Lobster prices appear to be somewhat off at the moment, but are still ranging around $10.00 a pound. That's less than the price of a really good steak (by "good" I mean "Black Angus"), but it's still a high-value item, enough that the victims of the theft will be feeling the pinch.
If the FBI catches up with the thieves, they are sure to be in hot water. Once the Bureau gets involved, the thieves should have trouble finding shell-ter. The Department of Homeland Security is mussel-ing in on the investigation as well.
Earlier this year, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) launched Operation Boiling Point with the goal of tackling organized retail crime. In its announcement of the operation, HSI stated that estimates show cargo theft accounts for $15–35 billion in annual losses.
HSI said that organized theft groups often target cargo at ports of entry, truck stops, freight trains and in various places along the supply chain while goods are in transit. Additionally, HSI noted that while organized theft groups targeting cargo may not necessarily be involved in organized retail crime, "they can be linked to common fences/fencers that are purchasing the stolen goods."
All kidding aside, this is part of a serious problem. Cargo theft losses, as noted above, are around $15-35 billion per annum, and while the HSI isn't offering specifics, it makes one wonder how many of these thefts are taken directly out of the big-rig trucks that are the red corpuscles of the nation's bloodstream; and further, it makes one wonder about the thousands of unscreened, unvetted illegal aliens who have been given commercial drivers' licenses (CDL) by states like California.
There's a lot of cargo tide up in these rigs. The Trump administration should take another look at this, maybe give the investigators a license to krill.
As of this writing, there's been no confirmation of the rumor that a certain jolly old elf will be making an additional flight to deliver an additional gift of lobsters to all the good girls and boys, but then, Santa Claws has been busy over the last 24 hours or so.
I'll be here all week. Try the lobster. Unless, of course, it was stolen.
Hope they refrigerate the stolen lobster correctly. Wouldn’t want to eat one of those if not refrigerated.
They oughta’ boil the writer for his attempt at humor regarding a large loss of money....everyone’s gonna pay...the owners,shippers, insurance companies, investors, shoppers...meanwhile the thieves get away, sell maybe rotting carcasses as food, and the writer is yukking it up.
Being a fairly unique commodity I hope they have a plan for getting rid of ‘em, because I sure can’t think of one.
—
That’s why they just stole 300 lb of butter ...
Get me some King crab, the ultimate crustacean in this nation.
—
But only if you can get it live from the boat that caught it.
I’d almost bet that the Prixster and his Minniesomalian buddy, Twinkletoes Walz know more about this lobster heist than they are willing to talk about. I’ll bet both those RAT boyz can put away some lobster.
See you and raise you a dozen stone crabs.
—
You have obviously never eaten fresh off the boat King Crab - admittedly hard to come by in the lower 48, but there is always overnight air freight.
If they are a really sophisticated crime organization, they will know how to disable those systems. That being said, that tracking system should alarm when an individual device is shutdown.
This sounds like an inside job to me.
I have eaten fresh off the boat stone crabs.
Somali pirates ?
But not king crab, so you are missing out.
I’ve eaten both, caught both.
Check the Minnesota welfare roles, you will probably see 400,000 recent enrollees.
“Get me some King crab, the ultimate crustacean in this nation”
Yep, and more expensive. Hard to find Alaskan as the Industry was shut down for a couple seasons. What I see in So Cal is coming from Argentina “southern king crab” $49 for two pounds at Sam’s Club.
“What I see in So Cal is coming from Argentina “southern king crab” $49 for two pounds at Sam’s Club.”
Patagonia coast. You can fly down there for the scenery and eat the Argentine version of King crab.
“You have obviously never eaten fresh off the boat King Crab - admittedly hard to come by in the lower 48, but there is always overnight air freight.”
They are too crazy expensive. They have them in the Korean mega-Grocery store H-Mart. Even in Alaska, most King Crab has been slightly boiled then frozen. Same as you get in the rest of the USA.
When we get fair priced King Crab back, you will know that Donald Trump has truly made America great again.
Try here - one of multiple Alaskan vendors
https://www.alaskankingcrab.com/collections/all-products
$477 for 3 pounds. BUT HEY!, free shipping. Certainly closing down the crabbing in 2023 and 2024 and limiting it in 2025 has a lot to do with that.
More to do with the Russians [ Russians have no catch limits ], and the extreme danger the guys have to endure to harvest them; not to mention it, but the costs of catching them are in the millions per boat.
Of course, nothing worth having or eating is free.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.