Philly police say string of cargo thefts is ‘definitely a crime ring’

Police officers in Philadelphia said they are working to break up a cargo theft ring responsible for nearly a dozen incidents over the past month.

According to police, the crew is believed to be connected to nine cargo thefts and two attempted break-ins since June 26. The male suspects have been spotted traveling in a white SUV, officials said, but they did not provide a detailed description or any surveillance image or video of the individuals.

“It’s definitely a crime ring, a group of people,” Captain John Ryan of the Northeast Detective Division told reporters during a news conference. “We’ve made arrests of members of this group. We believe it’s the same group. We’re still working. It’s just widespread. There have been indictments. We’re working with federal and other state partners.”

Ryan said the crew has been targeting tractor-trailers parked near food distribution centers that are waiting to make deliveries. In some instances, the drivers were asleep in the cab as the thieves broke into the trailers to steal the goods. He added that investigators have not discovered the secondary markets where the thieves presumably are offloading the stolen goods.

This news comes on the heels of the most recent cargo theft in the city, in which thieves made off with 12 pallets of meat from a parked tractor-trailer in the southwest area of the city. That incident was similar to a string of heists occurring on the northeast side of the city over the past several months.

According to CargoNet – a New Jersey-based data- and information-sharing company that collaborates with carriers and law enforcement to combat cargo theft – the number of strategic theft incidents perpetrated by organized crews is on the rise across the United States.

“Organized cargo theft rings in Southern California continue to be the most prolific threat, but theft by deception schemes are growing in popularity across the continental United States, particularly targeted pilferage schemes and non-delivery of whole shipments,” the company said in a statement. “We anticipate that these methods of cargo theft will continue to increase in popularity.”

CargoNet is not alone when it comes to recognizing the presence of organized crime in cargo theft; lawmakers are taking notice as well. The recently introduced Safeguarding our Supply Chains Act is a bipartisan bill that “aims to improve coordination between the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI” with the hope of slowing the growing rate of cargo theft.

Rep. David G. Valadao, R-Calif., is the bill’s main sponsor. During a recent interview with Land Line Now, Valadao said the legislation will target organized crime operations.

“Small-time theft is not a huge issue. I mean, it is, but it’s not as big of an issue as what we’re dealing with right now,” Valadao said. “It seems like it’s getting to a point where you’ve got a lot of organized crime behind it, and that’s something that we’re trying to focus on with this piece of legislation.”

If approved, the legislation would establish the Supply Chain Crime Coordination Center in the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations to “collect and analyze data related to supply chain fraud and theft and to analyze regions and modes of transportation in the United States that are experiencing high volumes of organized crime.” Additionally, the bill would establish a Supply Chain and Theft Task Force led by HSI and the FBI. LL