493 Recorded Cargo Thefts and over €8.9m in Losses in February
Cargo crimes reported to the TAPA EMEA Intelligence System (TIS) in 29 countries across the EMEA region in February saw over €8,947,337 worth of products targeted and recorded incidents up 82.5% over the corresponding monthly report in Vigilant a year ago.
Last month, 180 or 36.5% of crimes reported to TIS shared a product loss value, including 13 major crimes involving goods worth €100,000 or more. The total loss for these major incidents of €5,784,970 produce an average value of €444,997, 64.7% of the total recorded loss value of all crimes with a value in the month.
The biggest single cargo crime reported to TAPA EMEA’s incident intelligence database in February took place in Novaya Chara, Russia, and saw offenders steal €2,800,000 of unspecified goods from a facility on 22 February. No other information was supplied.
Overall, TIS recorded 493 new cargo thefts in February 2023, and this figure is expected to increase as more reports are submitted after the Vigilant publication deadline. Alongside the 13 highest value major crimes, a further 17 incidents reported losses from supply chains of between €50K-€100K, accounting for €1,101,078 of the monthly financial total, an average value of €64,769, up 52.3% over the corresponding figure for January despite three fewer days in the month.
TAPA EMEA captured intelligence on cargo thefts in 15 tis product categories in February in addition to the 63.1% of incidents in which the specific type of goods stolen was not identifiable. Once again, fuel thefts continued to be a strong trend with 104 incidents reported in 9 countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. This is the second consecutive month fuel was the biggest loss category recorded by TIS.
The top five countries for cargo thefts recorded by TIS in February to date were:
Germany – 167 Incidents
For the second consecutive month, Germany recorded the highest number of cargo loss incidents in the TIS database. In total, the 167 theft incidents accounted for 33.9% of all losses reported to the Association in EMEA for the month. The combined loss for the 48 crimes with a value was €723,177 or an average of €15,386. These included one major loss:
€150,000
Intruders broke into an Authorised 3rd Party Facility in Hesse on 16 February and stole clothing footwear products.
Fuel thefts continue to disrupt supply chains
Germany continues to see a spate of fuel thefts from trucks and diesel storage locations, with the 75 new crimes in this TIS product category representing 72.1% of all reported fuel losses in EMEA over the 28 days of the month. Fuel thieves were active in 11 German states.
The three incidents in the €50K-€100K loss value bracket in Germany in February included the theft of 14 chemical units from trucks parked at an Authorised 3rd Party Facility in Landsberg, Bavaria, on 20 February worth €70,000.
United Kingdom – 87 Incidents
After a quieter than normal start to the year for recorded cargo crime incidents in January, the United Kingdom’s cargo crime rate jumped 61% month-over-month in February to 87 reported attacks on supply chains across the country. The total loss for the 24 crimes sharing a financial value of €834,191 produced an average loss per crime of €34,757.
€282,506
The UK recorded one major loss with a value of more than €100K in February, the theft of 42,000 skincare products in Liverpool in the North West of England, on 13 February. Reported to be a very professional heist, the suspects emptied a warehouse in the city after jamming open the facility’s shutter door and disabling the alarm system before escaping with the cosmetics products valued at €282,506.
The UK also recorded two losses with a value of €50K-€100K totalling €160,954 but Vigilant is unable to share information on these crimes.
With Easter on the horizon, one cargo thief was clearly planning ahead but his attempt to steal 200,000 chocolate eggs from an Origin Facility on an industrial estate in Telford, Shropshire, ended in failure when he was arrested by police. The stolen confectionary had a reported value of €45,000.
France -76 incidents
France also saw a significant month-over-month rise in cargo thefts reported to TIS, with its 76 incidents in February up 55.1% over the previous month. For the second month in-a-row, France also saw the highest number of recorded high value losses of goods worth €100K or more in EMEA. Four crimes were added to the Association’s intelligence database, including:
€500,000
In Méry, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, on 9 February, a group of 3-4 offenders robbed a truck delivering cigarettes while it was parked at a logistics facility on an industrial estate. They emptied the truck of all its contents before fleeing in a van.
€170,000
An unusual case of ‘right place, right time’ for an opportune cargo thief was recorded on 2 February in the city of Nice, Alpes-Cote d’Azur, when a precious stone worth €170,000 fell from an armoured security truck as it left the city. A passing motorist picked up the gem and drove off.
TAPA EMEA is unable to report any information on the six crimes in France involving products losses worth €50K-€100K but these produced a total loss of €348,053 last month. Of the 9 regions of France reporting cargo theft losses in February, Hauts-De-France was the location of 39 or 51.3% of incidents notified to TIS.
Spain – 43 Incidents
€377,872 worth of goods were stolen in 10 cargo thefts reporting a value in Spain and were among a total of 43 incidents recorded across the country last month, including the highest loss of:
€105,000
On 1 February, high value goods including gold plated toys and cash, were stolen from an Origin Facility in the city of Seville.
Italy – 34 incidents
Whilst recording the fifth highest incident rate for cargo thefts, the 34 crimes which took place in February were nearly half as many reported by TIS in Italy in January. 16 incidents recorded a value, producing a combined loss of €212,283 for the month.
The biggest single loss reported to TAPA EMEA’s cargo crime database involved the thefts of €105,555 of unspecified goods, stolen from a container at a facility in Codigoro, Emilia-Romagna.
Rest of EMEA – 86 incidents
Outside of these top five countries, a further 86 cargo thefts were reported in 24 other countries in EMEA in February, including five high value crimes of over €100K. In addition to the previously referenced €2.8 million loss in Russia, the other four incidents were…
- €200,000 – Thieves stole unspecified cargo from an Origin Facility in Dubai, UAE, on 1 February, the only recorded crime in the United Arab Emirates in February.
- €187,378 – A truck driver transporting unspecified goods to the city of Astrakhan, Russia, on 14 February, was diverted from the planned route by offenders, who stole the truck’s contents.
- €147,226 – The third major loss reported to TAPA EMEA in Russia in February involved the theft of a large quantity of fuel in St Petersburg on 13 February.
- €104,305 – In Durban, South Africa, on 11 February, a suspect was arrested after being found in possession of phone batteries worth €104,305, which had previously been stolen from an Origin Facility.
Following a trend seen in January, TIS once again recorded a higher-than-average number of cargo crimes with the Internal M.O. These were reported in Romania, Poland, Russia and Belarus.
If you have cargo crime intelligence to share with TAPA EMEA, please send it to tisteam@tapaemea.org
