Dozens of pallets of meat snagged while driver was asleep
Crooks in Philadelphia made off with dozens of boxes of meat during a cargo theft over the weekend in the city’s northeast side.
The incident occurred just after 3 a.m., with the driver parked for the night behind a Lowe’s Home Improvement store in the Whitman Square Shopping Center.
According to the driver, he awoke when he felt the vehicle shaking. He then observed two masked men unloading boxes from the trailer into two Nissan vehicles parked nearby. The suspects fled the scene prior to police arriving.
In total, 40 boxes of meat were taken from the trailer. Police were able to recover eight of the boxes near the scene. The driver told police the estimated value of the stolen goods was around $22,000.
An investigation into the cargo theft is ongoing. Officials said no arrests have been made.
The heist is the most recent in a string of cargo thefts in Philadelphia over the past year and a half.
In fact, the location of the meat theft was the exact one where another incident occurred this past year. In October, thieves made off with pallets of Red Bull energy drink while a driver slept behind the Lowe’s.
Other cargo thefts to occur in the city over that time include:
- Thieves steal $30K in crab legs – leave driver injured – during recent cargo theft
- Bourbon bandits strike in Philadelphia
- Cargo theft problems persist in Philadelphia
- Beef bandits strike in Southwest Philly
- Thieves make off with $10K in tuna
In nearly all of the reported cases, thieves struck while the driver was parked and sleeping.
Officials are urging anyone with information about the most recent incident to contact the Northeast Detectives at (215) 686-3153. Tips can also be submitted anonymously by calling or texting the department’s tip line at (215) 686-8477. LL