Where’s the beef? Police search for trailers, cargo valued at $750K

September 20, 2022

Ryan Witkowski

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Warehouses and storage facilities in one Nebraska city may want to look into “beefing” up security after another high-dollar meat theft has was reported.

Police in Grand Island, Neb., are investigating the theft of three trailers full of meat. The trio of trailers were carrying meat from the Gibbon Packing Co. – a division of the American Foods Group LLC. The total value of all three trailers and cargo has been valued at just over $750,000.

Authorities say all three trailers were stolen from the AmeriCold Logistics cold storage facility between Sept. 16-18. The first two trailers were reported stolen on Sept. 16 in the early evening after a driver noticed the two trailers and the cargos had been stolen. The third trailer was reported missing on Sept. 18. Police believe that all three incidents occurred on Friday, Sept. 16.

Capt. Jim Duering of the Grand Island Police told KSNB news they have not recovered the trailers or missing cargo. There are no suspects at this time. However, Duering said the department does have some video surveillance footage they are examining for possible leads.

This is the second high-dollar meat theft to occur in Grand Island in a matter of months.

In late June, two semis and three trailers were reported stolen in the area. While two of the three trailers were recovered in that incident, Duering told Land Line that no arrests have been made in the case.

Police are investigating if the two incidents are related. Duering says that while the targeted cargo was the same in the two crimes, the planning was different. In the June incident, the trailers were targeted based on the loads they were carrying. However, in this instance, Duering said thieves cut locks on trailers to hunt out the desired cargo.

“It’s an organized group,” he said. “It’s a group that has access to a truck and knows the ins-and-outs of the business.”

Duering added the thieves knew the locations of the GPS systems on the trailers and were able to disable them quickly, supporting his theory the thieves have inside knowledge of the industry. LL