Dutch Police Recover €19.3m of Stolen Phones within Hours of Amsterdam Schiphol Theft

An immediate response by Dutch Police helped to recover a large quantity of phones and computer tablets within an hour of the €19.3 million shipment being stolen from a warehouse facility at Amsterdam Schiphol.

Media reports stated 5-6 suspects were also arrested in connection with the theft on 7 January.

The incident occurred at around 20.00hrs on the Sunday evening and was met with an impressive response from Dutch law enforcement. An hour after the shipment was stolen, police tracked down a truck and trailer at a warehouse in Woerden, centrally located between Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht. Four people were arrested at this location while a fifth suspect who fled the scene was detained later after being spotted by a police helicopter hiding in a ditch along the A12 highway.

This is the latest high value crime targeted phone shipments at the airport and from surrounding logistics facilities. As recently as December, police arrested a 64-year-old man for the theft of €1.7 million of phones following a tip-off in connection with a crime recorded in the early hours of 29 October. The man was identified in the Delft area within 24 hours of film footage of the crime being shared by the Opsporing Verzocht (Information Requested) TV programme, a collaboration between the Dutch Public Prosecution Service, Police, and broadcaster AVROTROS. Reports said the man posed as a truck driver and used a stolen truck and falsified documentation to facilitate the theft.

Another 11 suspects were arrested for reportedly stealing phones worth €18.5 million from Schiphol in February 2021, while in July 2020 a Polish truck driver was arrested after allegedly using false documents to collect a €3 million consignment of phones at the airport. Reports at that time said Dutch border police also suspected the operation involved people working for ‘various companies’ at the airport. One article stated: “It is the latest in a series of large hauls that indicate criminal gangs are recruiting workers based at the airport.”

Last summer, in response to the increasing threat from criminals, the Schiphol air cargo community introduced new measures to protect goods against such threats. This is one of the topics TAPA EMEA is hoping to include on its 2024 annual conference agenda in June.

“Cargo crimes of this magnitude are always very high profile. While security levels at airports are generally higher than so many other public spaces, the high value of goods moving through warehouses in and close to arounds across EMEA means they will always be a target for organised criminals. In the case of Amsterdam Schiphol, it is clear Dutch Police and the airport community are working diligently to protect high value, theft targeted (HVTT) shipments and, overall, their actions will be reducing the opportunities for criminals to operate. We can all benefit from learning about their actions and experiences. The quick resolution to this latest incident particularly highlights the responsiveness of Dutch Police is tackling the issue of cargo crime and we should applaud their effectiveness,” said Thorsten Neumann, President & CEO of TAPA EMEA.

This was one of 17 major cargo crimes reported to the TAPA EMEA Intelligence System (TIS) in January 2024, which produced an average loss of €1,658,000. These incidents including:

€675,000 – the theft of a shipment of sports watches from a trailer parked in Barcelona, Spain, on 7 January.
€250,000 – an internal theft of cash by an employee of a retail business in Catalonia, Italy, on 7 January.
€237,500 – a crime involving the theft of vehicles in Bradford in the UK.
€200,000 – a consignment of sunglasses stolen from a truck left in an unclassified parking location in Germany. https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/sunglasses-isolated-on-white-background-gm656662598-119614547?phrase=sunglasses+on+white

To date, 428 cargo thefts in January have been recorded in the TIS incident database in 36 countries in the Europe, Middle East & Africa region. Germany continued to see the highest rate of recorded crimes, with 152 losses reported to TAPA EMEA in the first 31 days on the new year. Seven other countries saw double-digit incidents:

Spain – 65 reported cargo thefts in January
Italy – 45
South Africa – 37
France – 30
United Kingdom – 20
Netherlands – 17
Poland – 11

The total loss for the 111 or 25.9% of incidents stating as financial value was €29,635,125 – a daily average in January of €955,972 or an average for all 111 crimes of €266,983.

This also included 13 cargo thefts with a loss value of between €50K-€100K, which accounted for €865,378 of the monthly total and included losses such as:

€82,880 – theft of cash from a Services 3^rd Party Facility in Moscow, Russia, on 12 January.
€73,498 – a truck and fuel theft in South Africa on 23 January
€70,000 – theft of copper cable and copper plates from an Origin Facility in Lower Saxony, Germany, on 22 January.
€50,000 – loss of tools/building materials in Treviso, Italy, on 7 January.

The first month of 2024 saw reports of 105 fuel thefts, 24.4% of all incidents recorded by TIS, one of 20 TIS product categories seeing losses. Six other categories reported 10 or more losses during the month:

Metal – 39 incidents or 9.1% of the monthly total
Cash – 32 or 7.4%
Food & Drink – 27 or 6.3%
No Load (Theft of truck and/or trailer) – 3%
Phones – 11 or 2.5%
Miscellaneous Electronics – 10 or 2.3%

The use of violence in cargo thefts in EMEA is also increasing, with 66 or 15.4% of incidents in January stating the TIS M.O of Violent & Theft with Violence.

Incidents reported to TAPA EMEA in January also included:

20 luxury watches and €30K in cash stolen from a retail store in Rome.
36 ovens worth €17,300 stolen from a truck in Hauts-de-France.
5,000 metres of copper wiring stolen while en route in Castellon, Spain.
4 offenders fired shots at a truck in Ohoden, Bulgaria, before stealing miscellaneous products.
7,000 kilos of artichokes stolen from a facility in Alicante, Spain.
2,500kgs of garlic stolen from a warehouse in Cuenca, Spain.
25,000 litres of diesel taken from a haulage yard in Hwange, Zimbabwe.
11 tonnes of wheat stolen from the Port of Sfax in Tunisia.
1,600 litres of beer taken from a truck at a service station in Tarragona, Spain.

Theft from Vehicle was the most recorded type of incident in January, linked to 150 cargo thefts or 35% of the monthly total. 128 or 29.9% of crimes were reported as involving trucks in unclassified parking locations.

TAPA EMEA members can obtain further intelligence on all cargo crime data for January 2024 in the TIS database.