by Alex Lloyd Gross
Philadelphia Police confirmed that a tractor trailer hauling meat products was targeted by thieves during the overnight hours. About 4:12 AM the driver of a tractor trailer was asleep and was woken up by moving in the trailer. He was parked on the 5200 block of Deveraux Avenue. His truck’s cargo was being pilfered.
The driver got cell phone video of the thieves and their vehicles, a dark grey Nissan and two dark colored SUV’s. During a recent media availability concerning this theft, Commanding Officer of Northeast Detectives Captain Jack Ryan said thieves know that the trailers hold food products.
He said he does not believe the thieves know a truck will be at a specific place and time, or will deliver at a specific location. He called it a target of opportunity. Five pallets of meat products were stolen. Based on that, he strongly believes the food is being sold on a secondary market.
This stolen food can make people sick if it is not stored properly. The people buying the stolen food could potentially face criminal charges for buying the stolen food. Ryan said police are looking into other thefts to see if they are related.
Once caught, there is a strong chance the thieves could face federal charges as well. The value of the stolen food was about $10,000. Ryan said that truck drivers should park in a well lighted area to sleep while awaiting their time to unload.
Camera systems that record the exterior doors and feed the footage to an off site location could be helpful in deterring cargo theft. According to Ryan, most of the goods stolen from trucks has been food products lately. The driver snapped a few photos of the vehicles involved in the cargo theft, which are included with this article. These vehicles lack any proper refrigeration to keep the food safe.