Concerns over ‘stolen to order’ pharma thefts from supply chains in Italy
The concept of goods being ‘stolen to order’ is widely accepted within the supply chain security community, particularly when it comes to thefts of very specific products which require a high degree of specialist knowledge.
Thefts of more general goods like clothing, footwear, cosmetics, high-tech, or tobacco products are recorded by the TAPA EMEA Intelligence System (TIS) on an almost daily basis in Europe, the Middle East & Africa. These are popular, in-demand everyday items – all highly sought-after by consumers, including those increasingly looking to pay a lower price. But, when it comes to losses of very specific pharmaceutical products, offenders need much more awareness of what they’re dealing with.
Two thefts from supply chains in Italy in September bear the hallmark of a ‘stolen to order’ M.O.
On 13 September, in Mesoraca, Calabria, €750,000 of newly arrived pharmaceuticals were stolen from a Services 3rd Party Facility supplying a hospital. The shipment included specialist, high-cost oncology drugs used for life-saving therapies, local media reported. According to the news media, the ‘targeted nature of the theft suggests the thieves were aware of the shipment’.
Serious blow to local healthcare
Aside from the financial impact of the theft, reports of the loss highlighted the “serious blow to local healthcare” and the potential increased health risks to patients waiting to be treated.
Six days later, and over 400kms away in Naples, an even more specialist type of drug was targeted by criminals. This supply chain attack resulted in the theft of €800,000 of experimental drugs and monoclonal antibodies that, one report stated, “could have been commissioned given the type of drugs and their ‘Black Market’ value.”
These, however, were far from the highest value losses recorded by TAPA EMEA in September which Vigilant is authorised to share.
As reported in last month’s issue, Italy has been consistently in the top-tier of countries recording cargo thefts over the last 12 months. Given its reputation for luxury lifestyle brands, Italy also sees a high number of crimes involving the distribution and sale of counterfeit products, which the country’s governmental and law enforcement agencies are working hard to disrupt.
On 5 September, police seized 52,000 counterfeit products in Naples – including bags, shoes, accessories, and suitcases as part of an investigation inspired by a well-known national brand into the sale of suspicious merchandise. 40 revenue officers were involved in the investigation into the sale of counterfeit designer goods across a distribution chain of 13 retail locations spanning the Abruzzo, Campania, and Marche regions.
€381,000 of losses every 24 hours
After the high cargo crime incident rates seen in July and August, TIS has so far received reports of 415 new thefts from supply chains in EMEA in September. The 22.4% of these crimes stating a value contributed to an overall loss of €11,430,314 of products in 30 days, averaging €122,906 or over €381,000 every 24 hours during the month.
Germany and Italy once again took the first and second places of countries with the highest monthly cargo crime rates, based on new reports to TAPA EMEA. Germany recorded 99 freight theft incidents in September, 23.8% of the monthly total, while Italy accounted for 48 or 11.6% of the rest. The eight other countries with TIS double-digit crime rates last month were:
- Spain – 41 or 9.9%
- United Kingdom – 40 or 9.6%
- Switzerland – 31 or 7.5%
- Netherlands – 22 or 5.3%
- South Africa – 15 or 3.6%
- Poland – 14 or 3.4%
- Sweden – 10 or 2.4%
- Russia – 10 or 2.4%
Major cargo thefts average >€686,000
Crime reports to TAPA EMEA so far for September contain 15 major cargo thefts. These are classified as incidents producing a loss value of €100K or more. In September, crimes in this financial value category produced an average loss of €686,881, and included:
- €300,000 – on 10 September, in Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg in Germany, thieves stole two truck trailers loaded with alcohol from an Origin Facility.
- €256,018 – in Belgrade, Serbia, on 6 September, criminals broke into a warehouse and successfully gained access to a safe containing a large amount of cash.
- €235,000 – a subcontracted truck driver disappeared in Chieti, southern Italy, with his cargo – an industrial diaper production line – on 13 September, which was destined for Romania. He has since been arrested by police, but the shipment is yet to be recovered.
- €200,000 – a trailer loaded with perfume and scented candle products disappeared after a Deceptive Pick-up in Dokkum, Friesland, in the Netherlands on 5 September.
- €200,000 – on 16 September, three thieves broke into a retail jewellery store in Veneto, Italy, and stole a large quantity of items. Police later discovered the vehicle and are processing it for any clues.
- €142,171 – police made seven arrests in connection to thefts of phones, smartwatches, tablets, and headphones from a retail facility in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain, on 2 September.
- €130,000 – a semi-trailer loaded with copper was stolen in Bad Bentheim, Germany, on 18 September.
- €100,000 – in Baden-Baden, Germany, a trailer and its cargo of miscellaneous goods was stolen while the vehicle was parked overnight in a public car park. Police confirm this is the third such incident in the last two months in this area.
TAPA EMEA recorded another six incidents in September with losses of between €50,000 and €100,000 and a combined value of €429,979 or an average of €71,663. These thefts included:
- €97,537 – eight men were arrested on 7 September for stealing copper cables from a business facility in Johannesburg, South Africa. The authorities believe the theft was part of a wider scheme stealing copper from across the area.
- https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/scrap-copper-wire-gm508752343-45609334
- €93,800 – in Åšwiebodzin, Poland, on 2 Septmber, a man was arrested after police discovered a semi-trailer containing household appliances and furniture, which the report said he had stolen previously.
- €80,000 – on 7 September, an arrest was made in Marratxí, Spain, after a string of robberies at warehouses in the area. The suspect was arrested in connection with the theft of a truck and 10 pallets of drinks from a local warehouse facility.
- €50,000 – during the night of 25 September, unknown cargo criminals broke into the trailer of a truck parked in an unclassified parking location and escaped with a large shipment of robot vacuum cleaners.
Losses were recorded in 18 TIS product categories in September, in addition to the 38% of incidents which only reported the goods stolen as miscellaneous or unknown. For the first time in months, fuel thefts didn’t feature in the top two product types suffering losses. 10 product types suffered double-digit cargo theft incidents last month:
- Cash – 43 incidents or 10.3% of the September total
- Food & Drink – 28 or 6.7%
- Fuel – 25 or 6%
- No Load (Theft of truck and/or trailer) – 22 or 5.3%
- Jewellery/Precious Metals – 20 or 4.8%
- Bicycles/Two Wheelers – 20 or 4.8%
- Tools/Building Materials – 19 or 4.6%
- Metal – 19 or 4.6%
- Clothing & Footwear – 14 or 3.4%
- Cosmetics & Hygiene – 12 or 2.9%
Examples of other incidents reported to TIS in September included:
- 20,500 chocolate bars stolen from a trailer parked in Barcelona, Spain, on 16 September.
- 5,760 cans of energy drinks stolen by an employee from a distribution centre in Peize, Netherlands, on 2 September.
- 400 boxes of shoes with a reported value of €42,000 were taken from a container in Moscow, Russia.
- 4,200 metres of copper wiring was taken from a facility in Plasencia, Spain, on 12 September. Three arrests have since been made.
More information on the latest cargo crimes reported to TAPA EMEA can be found in the TIS database. To report cargo theft intelligence, please contact tisteam@tapaemea.org
