PHILADELPHIA — Police in the City of Brotherly Love report that thousands of dollars worth of crab meat was stolen from a tractor-trailer on Wednesday, Oct. 4, while the driver snoozed.
According to a report, thieves made off with 184 cases of the high-dollar product in the middle of the night.
The crab leg clusters, valued at $73,000, were stolen at around 1:30 a.m. in the 1800 block of Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia’s Norris Square, police said.
Officers reported seeing several fleeing vehicles when they arrived on scene. The trailer’s doors were wide open.
When officers woke up the driver, he said he didn’t hear a thing. The container was locked with a metal seal and padlock, police said.
The investigation is ongoing.
This crab caper comes at a time when cargo thefts are on the rise around the nation.
CargoNet has recorded 582 cargo thefts across the United States and Canada in the second quarter of 2023, a 57% increase when compared to the second quarter of 2022.
According to a news release, much of the increase is due to ongoing shipment misdirection attacks, a kind of strategic cargo theft in which actors use stolen motor carrier and logistics broker identities to obtain freight and misdirect it from the intended receiver so they could steal it.
In total, thieves stole more than $44 million in shipments in the second quarter of 2023 and the average shipment value per event increased nearly $100,000 to $260,703 per theft as cargo thieves focused on high-value shipments, according to CargoNet.
Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and raised in East Texas, John Worthen returned to his home state to attend college in 1998 and decided to make his life in The Natural State. Worthen is a 20-year veteran of the journalism industry and has covered just about every topic there is. He has a passion for writing and telling stories. He has worked as a beat reporter and bureau chief for a statewide newspaper and as managing editor of a regional newspaper in Arkansas. Additionally, Worthen has been a prolific freelance journalist for two decades, and has been published in several travel magazines and on travel websites.
That is why parking for some loads is specified ,well lighted and secure.Obviously a reefer load it could have been pizza or butter in which case ,none woulod be missing,so maybe it was targetted. After driving 11 hrs and working an additional 3 hrs ,drivers need to sleep and not get robbed but it’s getting to be more and when I ask to get reimbursed for paid parking ,most companies refuse ,so let them pay for theft instead.
This is exactly what you would expect in Philly or any other liberal Democrat run city. They have turned them all into lawless war zones.
If you have to go into one of these hellholes you get in and get out. You don’t hang around to sleep.