Posted on 10/09/2006 6:12:28 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
Cargo theft accounts for approximately $50 billion in direct merchandise losses each year worldwide — $15 billion of that in the United States alone. (SNIP)
The Hialeah gang (Miami) is believed to be the single most important theft grouping active in cargo crime across the United States. (SNIP)
..grouped by geography:
• Miami/South Florida: Widely considered the most prolific in highvalue cargo theft, the gangs in this region can be divided into two groups: those that operate strictly within Florida and Georgia and those that operate beyond the regional boundaries. Those that roam outside the region generally target high-dollar freight, while those within Florida and Georgia typically monitor truck stops, freight yards, and other areas which tractor-trailers frequently are left unattended.
• New York/New Jersey: Two groups also can be distinguished in this region: In the northern area, larger gangs are affiliated with the gangs of south Florida; those in the southern region are smaller gangs independent of outside affiliation. Both groups operate throughout New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, and New York City.
• Chicago: Gangs in Chicago tend to be local operators. They also strike at rail yards and other forms of freight, not just tractor-trailer rigs.
• Texas: The majority of cargo theft gangs in Texas operate out of Dallas, with Houston a primary target area. Miami/South Florida groups also target Texas, given the high-value computer equipment and other items manufactured there.
• Atlanta: Atlanta gangs tend to be “home grown” groups that operate mainly within Georgia. However, on the basis of volumes stolen, they also are more active than most other groups – making Georgia one of the most risky states for freight shippers.
(Excerpt) Read more at scifwg.stratfor.com ...
Stealing a multimillion-dollar load can be tempting:
The shipment stands ready for immediate movement to a controlled location, where freight can be safely removed from the stolen rig into a “clean” trailer — an action cargo thieves consider a priority. Standard operating procedures now demand that stolen trailers either be emptied quickly of freight or be parked and placed under countersurveillance to determine police activity.
Once the gang is assured the tractor-trailer is not equipped with a tracking device, the vehicle is moved to a designated area close by. One common method technique is for thieves to move the “clean” and stolen vehicles back-to-back, and the stolen freight is transferred.
This operation has been completed for a full 53-foot load of consumer electronics in as little as 30 minutes. Other techniques include driving the entire stolen rig to a final destination (often painting over or peeling off company identification) and using a satellite warehouse for storage of stolen property.
U.S.-based cargo criminals usually:
• Surveil a distribution center, focusing on outbound operations • Follow departing, sealed loads • Expect the FTL driver to stop within 200 miles or four hours • Notice that FTL drivers frequently stop at local truck stops after their load is collected • Know FTL loads parked at truck stops are vulnerable • Can enter locked and secured tractors and drive them away within five minutes • Quickly remove unsecured loads • Favor removing stolen cargo into a clean trailer before placing the inventory into their own distribution network
The vast majority of thefts occur at truck stops. Freight at rest is freight at risk, as it is extremely rare for trucks to be stolen while in motion. Cargo criminal gangs are aware of this and tend to focus their activity within what has been referred to as “red zones” – within 200 miles of an origin point. Statistics have shown that approximately 80 percent of all FTL thefts occur in red zones.
There are several reasons for this: • Load Identification - Exit Point: How do criminals know whether a blank trailer contains millions of dollars in inventory? Through surveillance: Criminals establish a monitoring position close to FTL exit points at manufacturing or distribution centers. Departing loads can be easily tagged and followed.
• Driver Involvement: Drivers often contribute indirectly to the theft of an FTL. Most often, this means simply a failure to comply with policies on security, routes, or procedures that are set forth by the manufacturing or transportation company. The criminal is alert for any early opportunity to steal the load – and these opportunities usually present themselves when drivers halt at truck stops close to the point of origin. If the truck and trailer is left unattended, the criminal removes the load.
• 200-Mile No-Stop Zone: Because criminals tend to track freight from an exit point, their greatest opportunities to strike usually come if the driver stops within the first 200 miles of his route – within comfortable range of the gang’s home base. Many truck drivers tend to stop close to their pick-up location, in most cases for relatively short periods of time. This plays into the hands of cargo criminals, who can strike and steal even locked loads within a matter of minutes. Loads have been followed for longer distances, though this is not the norm.
• Unsecured Staging: High-value loads are always vulnerable when stationary and unattended. The usual locations favored by truckers and preyed upon by cargo thieves are:
o Truck stops
o Highway rest areas
o Yards with little or no security
o The driver’s front door
Gang members are keenly aware that law enforcement agencies approach violent crimes and cargo crimes differently. Cargo theft generally is considered a matter for insurance companies to resolve, not a crime against people. It is believed that less than 2 percent of cargo crimes in the United States involve violence. While that percentage may be slightly higher in southern California than elsewhere, it is extremely rare for criminals in the United States to use any sort of violence while stealing freight. In fact, the aversion to violence is so pronounced that gang members have been known to follow freights for up to 500 miles as they seek an appropriate opening to steal the loads (though the majority of thefts occur within 200 miles of the embarkation point). Cargo theft now has become so prevalent, however, that it has become a priority for law enforcement agencies. With FTL thefts typically ranging from as little as $12,000 to as much as $3 million in inventory, the hotspots listed by the FBI are not surprising: rest stops, truck yards and port cities.
As part of the U.S. Patriot Improvement and Reauthorization Act, signed in March, the Department of Justice plans to add cargo theft to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting System by the end of 2006. This is a significant step that should vault cargo theft out of the “silent crime” arena and aid in efforts to finally determine its true impact on the U.S. economy.
Full Report: Story Link 'pdf' Above.
When my dad's company had a problem with cars getting stolen off the ships coming in from Japan, it turned out that there was a POLISH car auto theft gang operating up and down the east coast.
I call these "gangs" land pirates.
Cost of doing business with longshoreman unions?
Big money in a tractor trailer load of cigarettes.
It would seem to be a good idea to place an armed guard on board the truck. Would it cost money ? Yes.
Would it cost 30 million dollars a month?? I doubt it.
When the longshoreman do it (and they STILL do, despite containerization), it is known as "spillage."
There is someone already on board the truck, why not arm him? I think the value of trailer loads is approaching that of Brinks trucks. A $40-50,000 a year driver is not going to sacrifice his life (nor should he) for a load of consumer goods.
...Statistics have shown that approximately 80 percent of all FTL thefts occur in red zones. ...
Ok, so you're a shipping company that's losing millions each month in thefts. Why wouldn't you identify the truck stops in the "red zone", hire private security firms to stake out the stops, pay the truck stops to add fencing and better lighting or contribute to the local mayors and sheriffs campaigns to get them to increase police patrols there?
Unless your insurance premiums cost you less.
I wonder what happens when RFID chips are on almost every product? WalMart's agressively pushing their use for constant inventory monitoring in their stores and warehouses. It seems to me that their use could make these cargo thieve's lives difficult also.
L
Definitely, other high value loads include industrial and consumer electronics, high end apparel, perfumes, jewelry, some consumables such as liquor and meat loads, pharmaceuticals. I recently heard of a theft of a full load of onion seed worth $2 million, in Nevada.
I wonder if the onion seeds were genetically-modified?
Farmers who are countersuing the corporations for messing up their non-GMO crops, where corporations had sued the farmers [the law presumes the farmer is trying to steal new technologies] when the free flying pollen from the GMO (patented) crops landed on the farmer's "pure" crops.
Ok, is a stretch; but the theft of onion seeds had me puzzled!..with a street value of $2 million; therefore, went with the "super" seed thinking.
He has to eat, he has to crap, he has to take a break every so often. They need a guard to watch the truck whil he does these things. Actually he only needs that guard while he is not moving. The truckstops could stop this crap by putting gates in and not allowing unauthorised people inside those gates and checking that the driver that moves the truck out is the same one who brought it in.
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.