Another 1.295 Cargo Crimes Recorded in EMEA in May and Losses €7.2 Mio

Cargo crime data shared in TAPA EMEA’s Vigilant digital magazine each month provides a snapshot of the latest attacks and thefts impacting supply chains in the Europe, Middle East & Africa region, but with bulk intelligence often arriving after the magazine goes to press, the final statistics for the month, available in the TIS online database, are usually many times greater.

Nonetheless, Vigilant’s monthly analysis is a strong barometer of criminal activity and, as such, data reported since the start of 2024 continues to show a worrying trend, with high volumes of incidents across some 40 countries in the region.

Based only on the numbers reported in Vigilant for the first five months of this year, the TAPA EMEA Intelligence System (TIS) has recorded 5,777 cargo crimes, an average of 38 a year. Financial data for these incidents shows:

• €67,991,302 of product losses
• €447,311 of goods being stolen from supply chains every 24 hours in 2024 to date

May 2024 data so far shows a continuation of the 1,000+ monthly cargo crime reports in February, March & April, which recorded 1,474, 1,414, and 1,166 incidents respectively. In May to date, the TIS database has been notified of 1,295 attacks on supply chains in EMEA, an 11% month-on-month increase.

Only 90 or 6.9% of the latest cargo thefts reported to TAPA EMEA in May included any financial loss data but this small percentage still produced a combined loss value of €7,292,981 – a figure still rising as more incidents are being reported. But even at this stage, the average loss for all crimes stating a value stands at €81,943 for the month.

The current loss value for every 24 hours in May is €235,257 as Vigilant goes to press.   

TAPA EMEA was notified of 15 major cargo thefts in the last calendar month – crimes with a loss value of €100,000 or more. These produced an average loss of €405,855, and included: 

€600,000

In Madrid, Spain, on 6 May, a large shipment of sneakers was stolen from an Origin Facility in the city after thieves broke into a warehouse. 

€353,479

The TIS product category for Clothing & Footwear recorded another major loss on 8 May when offenders hijacked a truck travelling en route in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.  

€150,925

Cargo thieves were also active in South Africa’s Limpopo province on 4 May, seizing a large shipment of cigarettes and tobacco during a raid on a truck. Police later arrested several suspects in connection with this incident. 

€150,000

Thieves stole a refrigerated vehicle transporting a large quantity of meats from an unclassified parking location in the north of Dublin, Ireland, on 7 May.  

€102,131

On 29 May, in Moscow, Russia, thieves escaped with precious metals and jewellery valued at more than €100,000 after raiding a retail store. 

TIS data in May shows a further 11 thefts from supply chains in EMEA with losses of products worth between €50,000-€100,000. These accounted for €724,974 of the total financial losses recorded by TAPA EMEA during the month… including: 

• €80,000 – In the city of Bailen, Andalusia, Spain, offenders were able to escape from an Origin Facility with a shipment of tools and machinery worth €80,000 on 3 May. 
• €75,620 – Scrapyard metal was stolen on 17 May after thieves attained access to a facility in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
• €72,284 – On 11 May, a truck hijacking in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, resulted in the theft of a shipment of high-end shoes.  

Nearly 75% of all cargo crimes reported to TIS in May involved goods recorded as ‘Miscellaneous’. This included a variety of items including pen drives, car batteries, memory cards, lawnmowers and even firearms. 

In another 62 crimes, the goods stolen were unspecified. Outside of these two categories, seven TIS product groups recorded double-digit losses during the month:

• Fuel Theft – 93 incidents (56 or 60.21% of which took place in Germany)
• Metal – 29
• Cash – 25
• Food & Drink – 17
• Tools/Building Materials – 15
• No Load (Theft of truck and/or trailer) – 15
• Miscellaneous Electronics – 11 

As is most often the case in EMEA, the top five countries accounted for >80% of the monthly cargo thefts incidents. In May 2024, this figure stood at 82.55% and involved: 

• Germany – 311 Incidents or >24% of the monthly total 
• United Kingdom – 244 cargo thefts or 18.84%
• France – 198 or 15.29%
• Italy – 196 or 15.14%
• Spain – 120 or 9.27% 

Seven other countries in EMEA recorded double-digit incident rates for the month: Poland (40), South Africa (23), the Netherlands (22), Austria (18), Czech Republic (18), Belgium (16), and Croatia (14). 

Other crimes reported to TIS in May included:

• 23 May – In Accra, Ghana, criminals stole 10 ambulances along with the medical equipment they contained as they were shipped into the country.
• 20 May – Karting vehicles were stolen in a break-in at an Origin Facility in Rijeka, Croatia. 
• 17 May – Cartridges and firearms were stolen in Rotterdam, Netherlands. 
• 16 May – A shipment of 43 TVs was stolen whilst a driver was parked in an unclassified parking location in Centre-Val de Loire, France.  
• 13 May – A last mile delivery of Food & Drink products was stolen from a distribution vehicle as it was being unloaded at a retail outlet in Newbury, Berkshire, UK.

TIS also recorded the arrests of 19 suspects by the South African Police Service (SAPS) in connection with a truck hijacking on the N12 south of Johannesburg.

REPORTING INCIDENTS TO TISIf you have cargo crime incident information or data to share with TAPA EMEA, you can contact tisteam@tapaemea.org. All reports in the TIS database remain 100% anonymous.